Calgary musician's song a smash hit in India as Bollywood star gives it a shoutout

The Calgary singer was awoken by notifications on his phone.

"It was about 4 a.m. and my phone kept going off," Neal Chatha told The Homestretch on Wednesday.

"There are all these messages, 'Wow, Priyanka Chopra just tagged you. What does this mean? This is something amazing.' It didn't really hit me."

• See The PropheC perform Vibe live in the CBC The Homestretch studio further down

Chatha is better known as South Asian singer, songwriter and producer The PropheC and his latest hit Vibe has been viewed on YouTube more than two million times in less than two months.

Chopra, a huge Bollywood actor, former Miss World and now lead actor in the ABC drama Quantico, tagged The PropheC in a post featuring his song to her more than 36 million Facebook followers.

"It was like a dream come true," Chatha said.

"I have been following her since I was about five years old. I remember watching her getting crowned Miss World 2000, I remember my dad taking me to her movies. I have just been seeing her for the last 15 years and for me to get that shout out, it was quite the experience."

Chatha is racking up the fans and hits, including Vibe.

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"With this song, it was just so organic. I was just having fun with the track and before we knew it, we released this track. It ended up doing really well in India. It was the number one most Shazam-ed song in India, it was top 10 on iTunes. We were just happy with that and then with Priyanka Chopra tweeting it and a bunch of Bollywood celebrities as well, it was just kind of the icing on the cake."

Chatha has been performing for only a few years, and is touring across the globe, including stopsin India, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and North America.

WATCH The PropheC perform Vibe

7 years ago

Duration 3:06

WATCH The PropheC perform Vibe

However, he says Calgary is his home.

"Something about just living here, away from everyone is kind of a perfect balance for me to go do my thing and then come home and live a normal life."

Although he gets noticed in his hometown, too.

"I was followed home twice. That was kind of weird. I am a very socially awkward and introverted person, so for that to happen I kind of had to go with the flow."

He said his dad saw his talent and got him trained at the age of five.

"I had this Mickey Mouse drum set and my dad would hear me banging on it and he was like, 'I think this kid needs to do something with his talent.' From there I got vocal lessons. I was always into Bollywood music, and then growing up into Hip Hop music, into a lot of pop music," he said.

"Later on I just blended it all together and came up with my sound."

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With files from The Homestretch