Singing Janitor Richard Goodall Fronts Journey On America’s Got Talent

Classic rock standard-bearers Journey have been in the news a lot lately, and it’s been for reasons that they might not like. Longtime bandmates Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain have been in a legal battle over the band’s corporate Amex card, and they’ve got a court-appointed custodian to settle their issues. Meanwhile, Arnel Pineda, the band’s singer since 2007, offered to quit Journey if fans vote him out after a rough performance at Brazil’s Rock In Rio festival. For his part, Schon claims that Rock In Rio headliners Avenged Sevenfold messed up their sound. In any case, it must’ve been a relief for Schon to participate in a feelgood story on the season finale of America’s Got Talent.

One of this year’s viral America’s Got Talented stars has apparently been Richard Goodall, a 55-year-old middle school janitor from Terre Haute, Indiana. In his audition for the show, a visibly shy and shaken Goodall belted out a crowdpleasing rendition of Journey’s deathless staple “Don’t Stop Believin’.” In last week’s Finals, he also sang a stirring rendition of Journey’s classic power ballad “Faithfully.” It’s not easy to sing like Steve Perry, but this guy can do it.

On Tuesday night, Richard Goodall sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” again, and this time, he had Neal Schon accompanying him onstage. Terry Crews introduced Goodall’s backing band as “Neal Schon and members of Journey,” and I’m not enough of a Journey scholar to know which members were up there, though I’m confident that Jonathan Cain, Arnel Pineda, and Simon Cowell’s old co-worker Randy Jackson were not among them. Schon flew from Chile, where Journey played last week, to Los Angeles for the performance. Below, watch that performance and Goodall’s other highlights from this season.