Boyd has used his opera voice to put him with four other finalists vying for the title of number one performer on “America’s Got Talent”, NBC’s talent show in which performers of every kind show off their talent to a panel of three celebrity judges.

Boyd’s final performance is tonight at 8 p.m. with the announcement of the winner is on Oct. 1. While his final performance may be tonight he has spent many hours practicing his singing, many of which are tied to the University of Missouri.

While attending the University of Missouri, working on his undergraduate degree in music and communication, Boyd met Ann Harrell, the Associate Professor of Voice.

Harrell gave Boyd voice lessons, helped him work on his senior recital piece and rehearsed for a competition with the Music Teacher’s National Association, a competition Boyd won.

Harrell knew that Boyd had what it took, but had no idea he wanted to go in this direction with his singing career. Once she heard he had made it past the first round she started to get excited about his chances to win it all.

“Neal is a very charismatic performer, he gets in front of an audience and he just comes alive, he sings his best in performance. He really shines in performance. He uses his performing skills to get excited about his performance,” Harrell said.

Those wanting to help Boyd can log on to NBC.com after the show at 9 p.m. and vote up until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning.  While it is hard to tell who will win, one can be sure Harrell will be stuffing the ballots and doing everything she can to help Boyd.

You can see Boyd's performance by clicking on the link above, as well as the judges' reactions.
Written by Brandon Smiti
Reported by Stephanie Cobb