Neal E. Boyd, a previous winner of 'America's Got Talent,' died of heart failure on Sunday at the age of 42, Fox News reports.
Boyd won the third season of the NBC singing competition back in 2008 after winning the hearts of the nation and the judges, who at that time were Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne, and David Hasselhoff.
To date, he is the only opera singer to have won 'America's Got Talent.' After his success on the show, he went on to release two albums, "My American Dream" in 2009 and "My Christmas Wish" in 2013, and was reportedly working on a third album that would have been a tribute to God's uplifting power.
He told the Southeast Missourian back in February that the lyrics for his third album were inspired by a car crash in 2017 in which he and his mother were badly injured. The injuries required him to use a wheelchair and walker, and he had taken a break from performing in order to focus on his recovery.
"It was a very, very, very bad wreck ... It's a very slow progress. I shattered a lot of bones, and shattered my hip, which has left me almost unable to use that leg for now," Boyd told the newspaper.
"It's been difficult, because you can't get up on stage right now, you can't perform for the audiences and you can't really do too much recording or traveling."
But he also revealed to the newspaper that his recovery from the crash was inspiring his next album that had been planned for release next year with the title "In the Middle of it All."
"Any time you're in a moment of struggle, God has a way of coming in and uplifting you," he said.
"You have these 'down moments,' whether it be health or physical, like it is now, and it just feels like something great is about to happen once I get back on my feet and back in front of the audience again.
"You never know what's going to happen next. Just be grateful that you survived. When God's given you the time to rebuild your spirit and rebuild your body."
In addition to music, Boyd was also interested in politics and ran twice as a Republican for the Missouri House of Representatives, although he failed to be elected.
