Neal E Boyd, the opera singer who won America’s Got Talent in 2008, has died aged 42.

He died at his mother’s home in Sikeston, Missouri, on Sunday night. A coroner ruled the cause of death was heart and kidney failure, compounded with liver disease.

Born in 1975 in Sikeston, Boyd was inspired to begin opera singing after he heard a recording of the Three Tenors. He went on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Auditioning for the third season of America’s Got Talent, he sang Puccini’s Nessun Dorma, impressing judges David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne. After four more rounds, during which he performed songs including Unchained Melody and All By Myself, Boyd won the final, once again singing Nessun Dorma.

He went on to release an album, My American Dream, and performed for Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr and Jr. A Republican, he attempted a move into politics, twice losing bids for the Missouri House of Representatives.