Richard Goodall usually keeps to himself but knows that it is important to step out of his comfort zone and do something truly inspiring every once in a while. As a janitor at a school, Goodall, 53, knows how to make people smile. He’s worked at the Davis Park Elementary School for many years and loves his job, helping make sure the facilities are clean and ready for children so they can learn and become future leaders.
For the last two decades, Goodall has been working as a janitor with the Vigo County School Corporation in Indiana. Although his job is to clean the school from top to bottom on a regular basis, he also tries to make friends with the students so they have another adult in their life they can turn to in the event that they need to talk about something important.
Recently, Goodall went viral in a video when he stepped up to the microphone and belted out an awesome rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The tune was such a success that tens of thousands of people have tuned into Goodall’s YouTube video to watch him perform in front of a student body crowd.
Although Goodall has spent the last two decades working in the school setting, he has a musical background. He sang in his high school’s choir and has also performed as part of a gospel choir during his adulthood. Clearly, he loves to sing and does not shy away from a microphone if the opportunity presents itself, as it did during this talent show at the elementary school where he works from day to day.
Goodall was recorded by a female coworker, Mariah Denehie, who trained her camera phone on the singing janitor to capture his rendition of the popular singalong tune by the popular band Journey.
The video of Goodall was uploaded to YouTube by an account listed as Jeff Golberg and has accumulated tens of thousands of views. Other videos of the same performance have also attracted a lot of attention and have gotten views from people across the world because everyone wants to see this elementary school janitor singing his heart out in front of an audience.
The following quotes come from the comment section on the below YouTube video and demonstrate how inspiring the janitor’s performance was.
“This is the smile I needed today. Kids are worth every second.”
“Stuff like this is really what YouTube should be all about. This is fantastic!”
“Hope this blows up. Takes courage to do that. Even with a voice that good.”
“Love the part where the kids start swaying their arms, and he encourages them to stand up. Got to love the Power of Music!!!”
“A mic check gone good! I love how the kids knew this 80’s song and their reactions.”
“That’s how you do mic check!!!! Thank you for your inspiration for the young generation!!!”
What do you think about this performance?