As Season 20 of America’s Got Talent moves from Auditions to Live Shows, the show took a pause to celebrate an incredible 20 years of talent with a birthday extravaganza that saw alumni from across the seasons returning to the AGT stage, including Season 19 winner Richard Goodall, a former school janitor who blew America away with his powerful singing voice and came back to perform Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger” to open the show.
“Eye of the Tiger” was written for the film Rocky III when the band was on the verge of being dropped from their label, as then-keyboard player Jim Peterik later revealed, it was a true overnight success story, “When we were writing ‘Tiger,’ I was living with a friend, renting a room for $150 a month and he was waiving the rent half the time. The guitar I played on the song had a broken headstock. I couldn’t afford another one so I glued it back together. Now I collect vintage guitars.”
The AGT alumni that performed with Richard Goodall
Goodall wasn’t the only fan favorite who returned to celebrate the milestone season. During his performance, he was backed up by The Pack Drumline, a percussion group from Season 17, and surrounded by the dancers of Los Osos High School, also from Season 19.
Saxophonist Avery Dixon from Season 17 brought the song from the steps of the theater inside the auditorium, where singer Sara James, also from Season 17, took over vocals. Meanwhile on stage, rollerblade duo Billy and Emily England from Season 12 wowed the crowd, as did aerialist Alan Silva, who competed on Season 15.
A look back at Richard Goodall’s AGT journey
Like every Act on AGT, Goodall’s journey began with a dream. He showed up for his Audition with a microphone, a belief in himself and sang, appropriately, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” winning acclaim from the Judges and a Golden Buzzer from Heidi Klum.
From there, stellar performance after stellar performance singing 1980s ballads by Michael Bolton and, yes, “Eye of the Tiger,” sent him straight through to the Finals, where he sang a reprise of his signature song — this time accompanied by the actual band — before taking home the top prize. He married his fiancée, Angela, six days before being revealed as the winner.
What is Richard Goodall doing now?
In November 2024, Goodall revealed to TODAY that in addition to performing at some sports games, he was still working as a school janitor, saying, “Not much has changed. I mean, I have a manager now, and at some point I’ll probably have to take a leave of absence for a while, and then assess and see if I would stay or start singing, but for the most part, other than singing out, I’m still the same person, same guy, not changed.” Thanks to the million dollar prize, he’s more comfortable, but happy and humble as ever!
