Richard Goodall on His 'Journey' From Janitor to 'AGT' Golden Buzzer Winner

America’s Got Talent viewers are in for a big treat tonight when Heidi Klum’s Golden Buzzer Richard Goodall returns to the AGT stage for his second performance of the season and the hope of being one of the three artists from Night One of the Live Shows for Season 19 voted through to the semi-finals, or even better to be the act receiving the new Live Show Golden Buzzer, which sends one act straight to the finals.

Richard, who has been a janitor for 20 years, took the judges by complete surprise during his initial audition with his performance of “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, which as he told Simon, “Spoke for itself.”

At that time, Simon told him, “Richard, you are my hero because that was special. Genuinely special. I think America is going to love you.”

Tonight, he will again be singing an iconic song from one of his favorite groups, which he is not allowed to reveal, but he teases for us.

“The songwriter is a well-known songwriter and, yeah, it's still in the Gen X wheelhouse,” Richard told Parade in this exclusive interview. “It’s a big one and that's about all I can say. It's a good one. It's taken me a minute to get to where I am, but the AGT music team is phenomenal. They have been pulling stuff out of my backside I didn’t even know I had.”

Coming in as one of this season’s Golden Buzzers means expectations are high for Richard’s performance, but he says no more than any other Golden Buzzer with one caveat: the number of views his "Don't Stop Believin'” performance has racked up on YouTube.

“That, I would say, is painting that target on my back,” He said. “I’ve eaten breakfast with quite a few [other artists] and they've not said anything. Everybody's so nice. There is probably to me a little target because maybe I'm the one to beat, but I don't think in those terms.”

Related: Don't Miss the AGT Golden Buzzer Winner 20 Years in the Making

Also during our chat, we spoke to Richard about he came to America’s Got Talent initially, his plans for the $1 million if he were to win it, being gifted a brand-new car by country pop star Walker Hayes, and more.

Congratulations on your Golden Buzzer. What inspired you to audition for AGT? Or did they find you?

It's a combination of things. I've sung to the kids for years. I've been a janitor for 23 years just like I said on the video. 2022 was the first time ever the teacher said, “Do you want to sing this year? and I was like, “Yeah.” They said, “Well, this time whatever you want,” because usually it's “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood, especially on Veteran's Day. So, I said, “Well, how about because I'm an ‘80s kid music wise what about ‘Don't Stop Believin'” by Journey,” and they're like, “Heck, yeah.”

So, I sang it and there was a teaching assistant out in the audience. She filmed it. That was a Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, I'm scrubbing the floor in the 1st 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?” She said, “Uh-huh, yeah,” and 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 year or so ago, one of the producers reached out because they had seen the video. I had tried out before in 2009 and I didn't make it. Back then it was called cattle calls where everybody shows up. It was in Chicago, and I didn't make it past the first round. I've been trying out for other things because people, the kids and [girlfriend] Angie [Vanoven] are so supportive. They tell me how great I sound. I doubt myself but everybody else is, “Hey, you're great.” When you get turned down for things, you try to let it slide off of you, but it hurts, but then Hallie posted me on TikTok and the senior producer reached out and said, “Hey, are you interested in being on the show?”

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. 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.

Related: See the Mind-Blowing AGT Golden Buzzer Act That Made Simon Cowell Break the Rules

You mentioned driving. I saw a story that Walker Hayes got you a new Buick. How did that happen?

It’s like the show, everything happens in waves. There's a local venue in my hometown called The Mill and Walker’s manager had seen the video and knew that I was from Terre Haute, so she asked the owners of The Mill, “Do you know this guy?” Well, I had performed there, “Don't Stop Believin'” with Tommy DeCarlo’s band. Tommy de Carlo is the second lead singer for Boston after Brad Delp passed away.

Just before that, Rudy Cardenas’ band was doing a Journey tribute --Rudy was on American Idol -- and they talked to Rudy and he's like, “Well, let me see this video,” and he's, “This is intriguing,” but I'm not sure. So, I came to sound check and when I came to sound check and I passed the test on sound check, he was like, “Heck, yeah. You're going to join me,” and so it progressed.

So, The Mill people new knew me and knew how to get ahold of me because I'm still working, I'm still a janitor in the school corporation to this day. People think, “Oh, he's been on the show, he's famous. He's got millions of dollars.” No, none of that is true. I'm still a janitor. I'm still working. I'm still doing all my stuff.

Walker Hayes’ manager had seen the video and invited me out to his concert and so my local NBC affiliate wanted me to come out and do an interview with them. My car, I mean it's not horrible but it's not the greatest thing in the world, and they have Channel 2 cars, and so they ended up giving me a limo to go out and do the interview at Channel 2.

Walker has this foundation. [Back when] he had lost his record deal -- and he has like six kids -- he had to give his van back, so a friend of his named Craig -- and he has a song named “Craig” -- gifted him with a van when he was down on his luck. So, when Walker finally made it bigger, he started the Be a Craig Fund and people who are in need of a decent vehicle can get one.

So, the wheels were turning, I didn't know anything about this. I had no clue and the Saturday before we left [to come to L.A. for AGT], my hometown had a big send off for me and Angie. Walker pulled up in a brand new 2024, which to me this is surreal because being a singer and the name of the car is a Buick Encore, so to me it's kind of fitting. I don't know if they planned it that way.

Related: Don't Miss Sofia Vergara's Golden Buzzer Winner As It Performs With Feet of Fire

I read an interview where you said that if you won the $1 million, your dream is to get a Double-Wide Mobile Home and move to Florida. When you came on AGT and you began to sing, I thought, "Wow! This is as astonishing as Susan Boyle." And she went on to have people invite her to do concerts all over the world. So, while you're living in your double wide, would you still want to go around and perform? What is the dream

Speaking to that, a lot of British people have been doing the comparison. If you dig a little deeper into Susan, she's still in her same house. She redid her house but she's still in the same house and, yes, she's made quite a big name for herself and she's worth money, but she still has stayed true to herself. I'm along those lines. My Angie wants a little bit better than a double wide, so we'll see how that works out. Last time with the [first] video, I had no expectations that time and I have no expectations this time. There's absolutely no way I can top what I've already done. All I can do is go in there and give the best performance I can and that's what I intend to do.

In addition to winning $1 million, the winner gets to headline a Las Vegas show. Are you ready to do that?

I believe so. Like I said, the music team is pulling stuff out of my backside I never thought that I could do. With the understanding that I'm not a professional -- what you’ve seen in the videos is what you get. Just a few months ago, I was just Mr. Richard, treating the floors, changing the light bulbs, and now it's kind of different. I'm still at the school and all that, but it's kind of different.

Are people already asking you to do gigs? I don't know contractually if you're allowed to do that yet. Have you heard from any music industry people?

Neal Schon [the last original member of Journey] and his wife reached out to tell me how great they thought I sounded and said we may be seeing each other soon.

I had a band in my hometown, and I was doing gigs during all that time and doing a lot of selfies with people. My hometown, I can't even walk through Walmart now, but no, nobody's reached out. I'm concentrating on the show right now and they're concentrating on me, so I'm good with all that. Then after the show's over whatever happens, happens but I don't have any expectations. I'm just taking things as they come. It is a roller coaster.

Related: See the Mind-Blowing AGT Golden Buzzer Act That Made Simon Cowell Break the Rules

How is this time different than your audition?

Angie is with me this time. The first time I was completely alone because we couldn't afford to buy her a plane ticket. It's expensive out here. So, it's easier with her being here with me but I'm just taking it as I can. I'm just concentrating on the show, not concentrating on me, and we'll see what happens this round. If I don't make it into the next round, I've already won. How many people in my area can say that they’ve done the things that Angie and I just did.

We took one of those bus tours around Hollywood and Beverly Hills and all that. It's amazing to see all that stuff. Iconic. Multiple times I looked over at Angie while we're seeing all this stuff and I said, “Just pinch me. I can't believe that I'm here that we're looking at all this.” It's all very surreal. We're taking it all in as we go. It's been very, very special.

Are your students really pumped up?

Well, that's the thing. The show aired just after they went on summer break. This next episode is airing on the 13th and the reveal is on the 14^th. The 14th is when the kids come back to school, so I won't be back in Indiana until the first full week of school.

America’s Got Talent Season 19 Live Shows air begin airing on Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. The results show will air on Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Next, Here's the Bottom Line on Season 19 of America's Got Talent