Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. on Winning America's Got Talent: "Just Keep Going"

Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. said it plainly: "Even when your feet are stuck in the mud, tell somebody to throw you a rope. And if they don't do that, try to make you …" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

On September 15, 2011 — the morning after his win — Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. spoke with press from across the country following his victory on Season 6 of America's Got Talent . The West Virginia native, a former car washer who had once been homeless in Detroit, had just beaten out the competition with his Frank Sinatra–style crooning to win the $1 million prize and a headline show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Premier Guide Miami's Camilla Wallace was on the call.

School first, then music

Now that you have won and you have said you're going back to school — is it school first or music, and why?

It's school first because everybody needs some more knowledge. I'm just trying to do things in the right way. I've got to school myself as far as how this business works because I am still a rookie in this as far as the paperwork goes. So I want to educate myself on that — and then it's music, always, till the end.

So when do you think we'll be able to expect the album or a song release from you?

I'm not sure on that right now. Everything's in the works so keep me in your prayers and stay tuned.

On your journey — I researched that you once were a car washer. Do you think you'd ever go back to washing cars?

No — I'll probably open up a nice detail shop that treats everybody like a VIP. I think everybody should get red carpet treatment wherever they go when they're spending their money. That's the type of place I would want to open up for all the regular 9-to-5 people out there, just make them all feel important.

Sinatra on the basketball court

Murphy traced his love of the Rat Pack to an unlikely origin: commercials in the 1980s, the theme song from Married with Children , and trash talk on the basketball court. "I wasn't like the biggest guy so when I would dunk on somebody I would sing, 'I've Got You Under My Skin,' or I'd shoot a jumper in their face and go, 'Fly Me to the Moon.'" Friends made bets that he couldn't pull it off in a public bar. He won those bets. Then he made a bet with his then-girlfriend — now wife — that he could win a local arts and crafts festival talent show. He won that too. "It just snowballed from there."

Homeless in Detroit

Murphy spoke openly about the period in his early twenties when he was living in Detroit after his mother returned to West Virginia. "My sisters and my little brother had already gone — I was basically all alone. I had nowhere to go so I started sleeping in my car or under bridges." His sisters eventually figured out what was happening and offered him a room, but pride kept him from asking. "I didn't want to intrude on anybody. But I just had to swallow my pride and get off the street." He credited them directly: "Thanks to my beautiful sisters for taking responsibility to getting me out of there."

Patti LaBelle and Frank Sinatra's band

The finale brought two moments Murphy will not forget. The first: singing with Patti LaBelle, a wish he had shared with his mother-in-law in the kitchen before he ever signed up for the show. "She asked me if I ever got big and famous and got a chance to sing with somebody, who would it be? And I told her Miss Patti LaBelle. And then once they announced I was singing with her I was just blown away." The second: meeting the musicians who played on Frank Sinatra's first album. "They gave me a lot of advice, told me some wonderful stories about the whole Rat Pack and Frank Sinatra. They all signed a piece of paper for me with all their signatures and all their little special notes. It's something to cherish."

On what comes next

Murphy's plans for the million dollars were straightforward: invest in his kids' futures, get a big house, pamper his wife. His vision for the Caesar's Palace show was equally clear: bring the big band Rat Pack sound back to Vegas — the one genre he felt was missing. "The only thing that's missing in Vegas is the Frank Sinatra or Rat Pack. I brought all of that back and all the young generation watching this show — it's the number one show in America — is letting them see that." On advice for anyone still struggling: "Never stop. Even when your feet are stuck in the mud, tell somebody to throw you a rope. And if they don't do that, try to make you a rope. Someway you just got to keep going."

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