America’s Got Talent season 3 winner Neal E. Boyd dead at 42
Per the Associated Press, Boyd was found dead in his mother’s Sikeston, Missouri home this weekend, and the Scott County Coroner Scott Amick says that he died of heart and kidney failure as well as liver disease related to his weight. Boyd was seriously hurt in a car crash back in 2017, which caused him to suffer a number of injuries including a shattered hip. He had a long road to recovery following that, and now, we have this tragic news of his passing to report on today.
Boyd was a part of the NBC show all the way back when Jerry Springer was the host and the judging panel consisted of Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne, and David Hasselhoff. It was a very different show then and not a single person who was on way back when is still a part of the series now. Boyd was one of the more under-the-radar winners in the early going, though he did go on to release two albums and was reportedly looking to release a third in the future. He was a notable opera singer, and in recent years also worked to get himself more into politics. He ran for a Missouri House of Representatives seat back in 2012 for the general election and in the primary in 2014; however, he lost both times as a Republican.
This news is tremendously sad, especially since Boyd was one of the most talented opera singers to ever come out of the show. He remains the only opera singer to ever win America’s Got Talent, a difficult feat given that opera is not the sort of genre that is beloved by much of mainstream America.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to Boyd’s family in what has to be an extremely difficult time. Hopefully, they can remember him both as a person and through his work. (Photo: NBC.)