Boyd Dies: Former "America’s Got Talent" Winner Was 42

He passed away at around 6pm on Sunday evening (June 10) at his mother's home in Sikeston, Missouri. The 42-year-old was found dead at his mother's house in his hometown of Sikeston, Missouri. The opera singer suffered from a health condition related to his heart. TMZ reports that his cause of death was heart failure. "He had heart failure, kidney failure and some liver disease".

American pop opera singer Neal E. Boyd, who performed at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, on August 28, 2012 during the Republican National Convention, died on Sunday.

The former insurance salesman-turned-opera singer won the 2008 competition, and the $1 million prize, after sharing with audiences - and judges David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne (Jerry Springer was host) - the story of his impoverished upbringing, and love of singing.

It's claimed that Neal was at his mother's home in Sikeston, Missouri in the U.S. when he died.

After fame hit, he recorded the album, My American Dream.

Just a year before his passing, Boyd and his mother, Esther, were in a major vehicle accident after he blacked out behind the wheel.

"It was a very, very, very bad wreck", Boyd told the Southeast Missourian in February.

In 2011, the singer ran as Republican for the Missouri House of Representatives. "[Recovery is] a very slow progress".