Richard Goodall works at a middle school just a few blocks from his home in Terre Haute, Indiana. The 55-year-old, who has been a janitor for 23 years, often sings while on the clock — in part to pass the time but more because of the response he gets from the students and teachers passing by in the halls.It was the support of the students, who call him Mr. Richard, that led Goodall to hop on a plane for the first time in his life to travel to Los Angeles and audition for “America’s Got Talent.”“I’m not a fancy person. I take out the trash, I wipe off the tables, I sweep the floors. I’m just having fun and I’m trying to make people happy,” Goodall said in a clip that aired ahead of his “AGT” audition. “The kids would hear me sing and they’d tell me that I’ve got talent. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I got on a plane.”
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Since his audition, Goodall’s fanbase has grown — substantially. His audition, featuring a performance of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” went viral. To date, it has 24 million views on YouTube. All of his subsequent performances on “AGT” have well over 1 million views on YouTube.
Now, Goodall is one of the top 10 competitors vying for the $1 million prize and a headlining slot in Las Vegas. His final performance aired Wednesday night and “AGT” will reveal the winner on Sept. 24.
How Richard Goodall landed on ‘AGT’
This isn’t actually Goodall’s first time auditioning for “AGT.”
The singer tried out for the show 15 years ago but didn’t make it past the preliminary rounds, he told Parade. But Goodall got a second chance when a teacher’s assistant filmed a video of him performing a Journey song at his middle school that went viral on TikTok.
“That was a Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, I’m scrubbing the floor in the first grade, and they approached me and said, ‘Hey, we filmed you and put you on TikTok and it’s got 100,000 views.’ I was like, ‘Is that good?’” Goodall told Parade. “By the end of the weekend, it was in a million. By the time it reached 3 million, Journey and Steve Perry commented. Then Steve Perry, who’s a recluse and doesn’t say much at all, put me on all of his social media. His fans were commenting. Because if he’s on board, then it’s OK. If it was OK with Steve, then it was OK with them.”
A producer saw the video and reached out to Goodall about auditioning for “AGT.” A few months later, Goodall had a plane ticket to California.
