'He has this voice': Montreal busker on singing with Seal

It was a typical summertime set for Montreal busker Jason Deeh Pitre, until it wasn't.

While singing in Old Montreal Saturday afternoon, a spectator came up to him – someone who had been watching from the crowd for about an hour – and complimented his singing.

"And I see him and I say, 'Hey, are you Seal?'" Deeh Pitre said in an interview with CBC's Ainslie MacLellan.

"And he goes, 'Yeah.'"

• Seal steps out of crowd to sing duet with Montreal busker

The pair sang Stand By Me together, and it was filmed and posted to the internet. Since Saturday, Deeh Pitre's video has gone viral, having been shared hundreds of thousands of times.​

Here is a condensed transcript of the conversation MacLellan and Deeh Pitre had on CBC Montreal's Daybreak Tuesday morning.

Ainslie MacLellan: It was really only once he came up and approached you that you realized it was him?

Jason Deeh Pitre: I didn't see it was Seal, I just saw a guy there. It was only hearing him that I said, "Oh no, it's him." He has this voice that's Seal-ish, right?

AM: What was going through your mind when you started singing with him, and you realized you were singing alongside Seal?

JDP: Hearing him was a shock. Hearing him on CD, he sounds exactly the same. He's an influence, he's an icon, he's underrated so it was an honour.

AM: When you started singing, how much of a crowd did you have around you?

JDP: I'd say 100.

AM: And how were they reacting?

JDP: I think slow shock, but in the first half, you could sense the people were realizing who he was. By the end, we had an audience.

AM: You harmonize well together. You're holding you own singing next to Seal. I guess that's a boost of confidence?

JDP: I hear I sing well every day, so in a sense, I know I can sing, but hearing Seal say I sing awesome is a compliment. It makes me happy.