While shows like the X Factor and Britain’s/America’s Got Talent continue to remind us that ordinary people can have the most extraordinary of talents (hello Susan Boyle), we still find ourselves astonished when someone far removed from the world of show business rises from the woodwork to show off their brilliance.
Take school janitor Richard Goodall for example who rocks up to assembly and performs one of the best covers of Journey’s 1981 classic Don’t Stop Believin’ we’ve heard to date.
Dressed in his uniform from the County School Corporation of Terre Haute, Indiana – (where he’s worked for over twenty years) 53-year-old Goodhall timidly latches onto the mic stand, while showcasing a set of pipes as remarkable as Steve Perry the song’s original powerhouse vocalist.
Meanwhile, his young audience jump and raise their arms, dancing along to his cover, which was one of just many performances that he’s provided for the school to entertain the pupils.
Since the initial footage of Goodhall’s cover was posted by his co-worker Mariah Denehie on TikTok, it has been viewed more than 10 million times. He has since appeared on news outlets such as ABC News, where he explains: “It’s humbly and it’s fun but yeah I’m still the same person I’m always going to be, I’m just me, you know.”
The video even found its way under the radar of former Journey singer Perry who tweeted “I love this”. The band followed with their own message, simply writing “Love this!”.
After seeing the stamp of approval from the band and Perry, Goodhall tells the channel: “I was in half-tears because this is the stuff I’ve grown up on, the people I listened to. I don’t have any formal training. When I was the kid I was the kid who had speakers all around his bedroom and I just turned on the radio and belted it out, you know.”
On how he marries his love of singing with his custodian job at the school, he says: “I’m not just the guy who wipes the tables down and takes out the trash, I like people to smile and be happy”.
