TERRE HAUTE, Ind — Indiana is still buzzing about a Terre Haute custodian who starred on TV’s biggest stage Tuesday night.
Richard Goodall earned a Golden Buzzer from Heidi Klum on the season premiere of “America’s Got Talent.” That sends him directly to the live shows later this summer and made him the talk of the Hoosier State.
“After the show has aired, there has been so much support,” Goodall told WTWO-TV. “I cannot answer all of the messages that have come across, like thousands and thousands.”
Goodall earned his “AGT” audition after a TikTok video showing him singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” to students at West Vigo Middle School where he works was viewed by millions. His nerves were evident on the show’s vast stage Tuesday night, but the music calmed him down.
“When I hear Journey, Foreigner and Survivor music, it centers me, calms me down and lets me know that I am OK,” Goodall said.
His performance left the judges stunned, and Klum made sure he didn’t need a vote to make it through on the show, hitting the Golden Buzzer, sending confetti shimmering down on stage.
Back home, those who know Goodall weren’t at all surprised by his second viral moment.
“I knew that was coming,” Tom Greenberg said. “He deserved it. He’s just so good, and Journey, I mean you throw him on a Journey song and he’s just the best of the best. He’s just a perfect Journey singer.”
Goodall and Greenberg are part of a band called “ManOpause” that performs locally around Terre Haute. The band is known for playing songs many others don’t even try to perform.
“I did hear him play at The Mill here in Terre Haute, and he was amazing. He did Journey just as well as I’ve heard any other person sing Journey,” said Jamie Cheesman, a bartender at Archie’s Sports Bar, where ManOpause occasionally performs.
But with all of his newly found success, Goodall said the fame isn’t going to his head.
“How could I possibly become a diva type of person? I’m not, that is not going to happen,” Goodall said. “I am not a fancy person — I never have been, and I never will be. I am a basic person just like everyone else.”
