Yousseph "Chico" Slimani (born 2 April 1971) is a British singer who rose to prominence in the United Kingdom after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2005 series of the talent show The X Factor. In 2006, he had a number one hit on the British charts entitled "It's Chico Time". In 2008, he appeared on the reality TV show CelebAir in which he placed third.

Biography

Chico is married to Daniyela Rakic, sister of 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Men's Doubles Champion Nenad Zimonjić. They have a daughter named Lalla-Khira, and a son Zacharia.

Chico is a Muslim and his spiritual master was the late Nazim Al-Haqqani.


Charity work
On 20 May 2006 Chico appeared on ITV's coverage of The Prince's Trust annual fundraiser. He took part in a Blind Date themed skit, being picked over Roger Moore and Richard E Grant by Dame Edna Everage.

Chico founded the Rainbow Child Foundation with his wife Daniyela and brother JC Mac, and took part in a promotional video of the foundation to open an orphanage in Cambodia.

He went on to take part in another Rainbow Child Foundation project in Malawi and South Africa with the charity One Water to see the work carried out installing Play Pumps. In 2011, Chico went to Malawi and opened Play pumps there.

Chico's single "Curvy Cola Bottle Body" is a protest against the "Size Zero" phenomenon. As part of its promotion, Chico teamed up with the British Eating Disorders Association (beat) charity. Profits from the single were donated to the charity.

Proceeds from Chico's 2010 single "It's England Time" went to the Rainbow Child Foundation to help underprivileged children in Africa.

On February 7, 2015 Chico volunteered as one of the panel judges at the Dancing Strictly 2015 live charity show held at the ArtsDepot in North Finchley, London. The event, now in its third year, raised over £20,000 for the North London Hospice charity.