Opera singer Neal E. Boyd, who won the third season of America’s Got Talent in 2008, died Sunday at the age of 42 in Sikeston, Missouri.
“Neal passed away at his mother’s house last night at about 6:26 p.m.,” Scott County Coroner Scott Amick tells PEOPLE.
“Neal was on a CPAP machine and when EMS got there, they put the monitor on him and confirmed he was deceased,” the coroner continued, adding that “Neal had some medical issues.”
“He had heart failure, kidney failure and some liver disease. Just a number of things were wrong with him, and ultimately that’s what led to his demise,” he explained.
After winning America’s Next Got Talent, Boyd joked to PEOPLE that “my voice is big, like me.”
Asked what it felt like to be one million dollars richer and have a music career ahead of him, Boyd simply said, “My life will never be the same.” He went on to release his debut album My American Dream in 2009.
Boyd also ran for an empty seat in the Missouri House of Representatives as a Republican in 2011.
