Singing janitor Richard Goodall appeared on the May 28 season premiere and has since racked up 20 million views on the official “AGT” YouTube channel (plus millions more across social media), more than any other act this year. In fact, no one else even comes close.
The audition began with the 55-year-old from Indiana telling judges Heidi, Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara and Howie Mandel about his life-long dreams of becoming a singer. In order to make money, he took a janitorial job at an elementary school, seeing himself as “not a fancy person.” When his students heard him singing in the school halls, they encouraged him to try out for NBC‘s reality TV show because he’s “got talent.” And the rest is history.
Richard’s song choice was “Don’t Stop Believin’,” the classic 1981 Journey tune that took on new life in recent years thanks to “Glee.” Following the performance, Simon said he was “genuinely special.” Sofia called him a “perfect” contestant because he’s an “amazing surprise.”
