Indiana school janitor Richard Goodall has offered some new, surprising insight as to his incredible ascent on America’s Got Talent.
A middle school janitor for the past two decades, he told judges he grew up listening to such hits on the radio.
He eventually went on to take up his current role at a schoolhouse a few blocks down the road from his home, in Vigo County.
Speaking to Parade hours before an equally impressive performance of Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” that saw him advance to the semis, Goodall revealed how he came to audition in the first place.
“I’ve been a janitor for 23 years,” Goodall began by saying, after first being congratulated for receiving a hard-earned, Heidi Klum-bestowed Gold Buzzer for his performance almost two months before.
“I’ve sung to the kids for years,,, 2022 was the first time [a] teacher said, ‘Do you want to sing [on America’s Got Talent] this year?
“I was like, ‘Yeah,’” the US’s new favorite cleaner further recalled, before revealing he flamed out of the competition during the show’s fourth season in 2009.
Citing his background as an “’80s kid music-wise”, he propositioned ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.
“They’re like, ‘Heck, yeah’, he remembered – with the rest now well-recorded history.
Of his subsequent spell-binding performance that’s since received several million views on YouTube, he said he was startled when he saw a familiar face in the audience.
“So, I sang it and there was a teaching assistant out in the audience,” he revealed. “She filmed it. That was a Thursday afternoon.”
“Friday morning,’ he said, “I’m scrubbing the floor in the 1st grade, and they approached me.
She reportedly told him, “Hey, we filmed you and put you on TikTok and it’s got 100,000 views.”
“I was like, ‘Is that good?’” Goodall recalled.
“She said, “Uh-huh, yeah.”
By the end of the weekend, it was well over a million, he said.
Recollecting as his then-scheduled second appearance loomed large, the custodian continued to express surprise over the outsized reaction that first set rapidly received.
‘By the time it reached 3 million, Journey and Steve Perry commented,’ he said, referring to the legendary arena rock band’s reclusive frontman.
“Steve Perry, who’s a recluse and doesn’t say much at all, put me on all of his social media,” Goodall gushed.
“His fans were commenting… If it was OK with Steve, then it was OK with them.”
He went on to reveal how it was a TikTok clip of him singing that got the attention of showrunners earlier this year, after which the show’s senior producer personally reached out him.
“[They] said, “Hey, are you interested in being on the show?” Goodall recalled.
“Four months later, I got plane tickets on my phone and I’m flying by the seat of my pants.
“I never had been on a plane, never been west of Missouri — and I wasn’t ever expecting to, either and I was OK with that,’ the school janitor admitted.
“I’ve been all over the East Coast because I can drive there, but taking three or four days to drive out to California, it just wasn’t on my radar. So, that’s basically what happened.”
