The Neal E. Boyd interview: Hometown Boyd stays grounded while bringing opera to the masses

Since making his first appearance on the season premiere of "America's Got Talent" in June, Neal E. Boyd has gotten a load of national face time. In fact, he's all but become the face of the show.

But the Sikeston, Mo., native tries to stay humble yet confident, something he hopes his tenor voice will project in his performances. Boyd spoke with the Southeast Missourian by phone Friday.

Matt Sanders: You're out in L.A. right now. What can you tell me about what's going on out there and how long you've been there?

Neal Boyd: ... We're doing a lot of preparation for the upcoming show, and it's getting real exciting. I've been out here now, probably just a few days, and it's just, it's everything you can imagine it being ... being in the Hollywood hills ... to me it's just surreal, more than anything else.

MS: Coming from Southeast Missouri, is it weird to be there?

NB: It really is ... Growing up in Sikeston, and going to school in Cape, it's something you always dream about. And you hope, you hope one of these days that you'll get an opportunity to actually be among some of the glitz and glamour and be able to perform what you love to do, and I guess singing opera on a large scale. Now when I'm sort of walking around, whether it be Universal Studios or any of these places around here, and the reaction that I'm getting from the people, which is just amazing, being so far away from home. It's different in the sense that it's almost like a dream. And this is one of these moments where I personally feel like my dreams have really started coming true. And you get excited about things. For instance I just opened up the newest issue of People Magazine ... and I'm in it. And I'm looking at it going "when did this happen, you know, when did I become this guy?" At the same time, I always come home to be around my mother and my friends and family down there in Sikeston, just to stay grounded. And that's really the one thing you gotta do, because you gotta remember where you came from, first of all, and where your dreams got started ... that's always how I keep myself, how do you put it, just keep myself grounded ... I kind of need to be around friends and family, especially since all this stuff's been going on. You go out to Hollywood ... and people try ... to build you up sometimes, and they try to hype you up, and anybody who knows me knows that's just not me. I get a kick out of performing and hearing the applause, and making people happy ... That's what it's all about. It's not about the lights and the celebrity and the fame.

MS: On that note, you probably have people come up to you, "Let's get our picture with you! Can you sign your autograph!"

NB: (laughs) Yeah, I get that a lot. Especially in the hotels and at Universal Studios and all these places. Even downtown. I went to a grocery store just last night and ... people are pushing their carts and they stop real quick, and ... take a second, and sometimes they hesitate, but then they've got to come up to you, and they've already got their pen in hand, and they've got their camera out ... I'm probably as nice to everybody who comes up to me as I am at home. Everyone out here in Southern California ... it's a little different. I remember when I was out on the east coast, people weren't as friendly necessarily as they were in the Midwest, so when you're that nice to somebody it really just kind of brings out the best in them.

MS: You would be pretty recognizable, since you just happen to be on "America's Got Talent" in a year when it's dominating the summer ratings. That worked out well for you, didn't it?

NB: Absolutely.

MS: What can you tell me about when the show starts up again next week? Are we going live?

NB: Yeah, we're going live on Tuesday.

MS: Does voting start immediately?

NB: It starts that night.

MS: You're really hoping for a lot of your supporters at home to cast their votes.

NB: I'm really excited about what I'm hearing about these watch parties [at Southeast Missouri State University]. That really is the kind of support I need ... I just want to thank them.

MS: Being a tenor ... was it weird for you to perform on a show like "America's Got Talent," since opera isn't as accessible to a wide audience?

NB: It really was. I was really taken aback by how well the producers took to it. I'd watched the YouTube clips of Paul Potts [an opera singer who won "Britain's Got Talent" the year before, and I remember sitting there thinking to myself, as preparation for this show started ... I kind of felt like it was time. Since [Italian tenor Luciano] Pavarotti had passed away last year, you're always wondering if, well, maybe this is my shot to give opera some exposure, and when I went in there and I first sang my first aria, it just, I can't even explain it. The reaction was incredible. You saw it on the show. They edited it down a little bit, but it was overwhelming. And there's been a lot of conversation ... that "you did the same aria that Paul Potts did", and to be honest with you, any opera singer, any tenor, that is the signature aria. And if you can prove to people, prove to the world that you can sing it ... it kind of solidifies you as a performer ... "Nessun Dorma" was Pavarotti's signature aria ... it was his baby. The first opera CD I ever got, that my brother brought home, was the Three Tenors, and one of the first arias on that CD is "Nessun Dorma". That is the song that made me fall in love with opera, that's why I did it. And it felt good to perform it and to give people ... an insight back in to opera. I thought to myself, if I can just get one kid to hear that aria, and love it as much as I did, then I did my job.

MS: It looked like there was a bit of nervousness up there on that first audition. Were there some butterflies?

NB: There were a lot. You don't see the judges until you get on that stage. And you've watched the show, and it was one of those things that, from the second you walk out, you've met Jerry Springer and you've talked to him, and then you go out onto this big stage, you've got 2,000 people staring back at you, they're a little rowdy in the beginning, and then all of a sudden here's David Hasselhoff and Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan looking back at you, and they're about 10, 15 feet away from you, from the stage. And you're looking down at them and that's where you go, oh my goodness, this is it. This is make or break time. You're either going to pull it off or you're going to flop horribly. I mean this is the part where your dream goes national, and it's in front of the entire world. And you know the next day it's going to be on the Internet, and you know articles are going to be written. And if you do it poorly, well, that's it.

MS: What did you keep in your mind to stay focused and not overthink it?

NB: That's a good question. I know the whole entire day when I probably should have been listening to my aria, I was listening to the song by Eminem "Lose Yourself." And I knew I only had like one shot ...

MS: Very appropriate song.

NB: Very appropriate. But that kind of kept the butterflies down, even though it should have ramped them up.

MS: I know you've heard the critics who said you ripped off Paul Potts. How did you respond to that?

NB: Well, it made me happy, to be honest with you, because, if I hadn't done it well, they wouldn't have said anything. But the fact that I did sing it well, and did make an impact, was really cool. And the comparison ... that's the highest form of flattery in my business ...

MS: On your second performance, in Las Vegas, you went out on a limb a bit, singing an opera version of "Unchained Melody." What made you decide to do that?

NB: Well, it's all about taking risks, and that's exactly what I did. And it went, it went fairly well. I like the challenge myself, when it comes to pieces like that. And I'd heard a rendition of Il Divo doing it -- and Il Divo's a group that's put together by Simon Cowell -- and to be honest with you, I fell in love with it. I like that style. I like the ability to take contemporary songs and make them more classical, and for me it works. My other opera buddies in the show loved it ... A lot of the people loved it, and some of the comments are great, but it was no "Nessun Dorma," and that's where I think the real comparison comes from. People expect that big, bombastic, loud, thundering sound. And if they don't get it a lot of times they get disappointed -- kind of like if Pavarotti would have started singing a lullaby, instead of finishing off a show with "Nessun Dorma." But at the same time, because of the anticipation of that next song and that next show, because of all the audition shows, people, I think, just kind of wanted to hear the epic song again.

MS: Do you think that's what the judges were getting at when, for instance, Piers had some criticism for you saying "Unchained Melody" was good, but not what you did the first time.

NB: Sure. And that's one of the best parts about the judges ... that criticism is needed. Him telling me it wasn't the same, I still showed off my versatility, I still showed what a lot of people in Southeast Missouri and the rest of Missouri know -- that opera isn't the only thing I sing ... you just go to my website to find that out. But at the same time, you have to show versatility. When you think about putting together a big Las Vegas show, you know, you have to understand you're only human. Your voice is a muscle, and every song can't be a powerhouse. But at the same time, what I really like was, the new fans that I got ... from the softer, sweeter side. You know, the comments on, "that was a very tender song, I didn't know somebody with a voice like that could do that" ... They're fixated so much on the high B and the size of the original song, and it just, it kind of shocked. If you watched the performance you almost see Piers kind of go, well this wasn't expected ... just by the cock of his head. And of course ... I think David liked it a lot.

MS: One thing that I think a lot of people don't know about is your time that you spent at the New England Conservatory of Music and the vocal problems you encountered there.

NB: You could say more than anything that I just didn't acclimate very well to the climate ... and I wound up getting a cold, which turned into an infection, and at the same time, there was the potential for vocal polyps, which for a singer is just death ... Because you're at the New England Conservatory you can't just stop singing ... that's why you're there -- I was making it worse by trying to continue to sing on the level that I had when the vocal doctors were telling me, "Neal, you've gotta take a break. You've gotta take a break our you'll never sing again, and you'll end up destroying the instrument and everything will get worse."

And when I was, I was probably about 26, 27, and that was just really hard to hear ... It had been two or three years since my national championship, and you think you're on track to finally make it, and then something like that comes up, and I'll be honest with you, it just devastated me ... It was a big shot to my pride, because when you're young you think you're invincible, and you want to sing like the greats, and you just, literally hurt yourself.

So I came home to Missouri, came home to St. Louis for a few years, probably for the last five, and took the doctors' advice, took a break, started doing some stand-up comedy in St. Louis ... because I needed the audience, you just can't get away from the audience. And I would sing when I could ... I wasn't doing so much of the concerts singing anymore, and I was just taking an overall break ... And in order to do that I come home, that's just what I do.

MS: Did you have plans to really get back into singing full time at that point?

NB: No, I hadn't.

It came to a point, probably about two years ago or so, when I did a concert with the Illinois Symphony, that went well -- we did Weber's "Requiem" -- that I was really starting to come back vocally. And ... I thought about, as a possibility, of moving back to New York. And I ended up getting a job, when I got back to St. Louis, with Enterprise Leasing, renting cars, for two years, then I got with AFLAC, with the full intention of being an independent contractor, selling insurance to be able to have more time to sing. So I guess there was a preparation to get back into it, but I wasn't sure of the avenue in which I'd do it. And I talked to my friends in New York, I talked to people in Nashville and Chicago, and I was probably geared up to do some more auditioning when the job was going so well, and my relationship with my girlfriend Heather was just going stronger, and my friends started getting married, and there was really a period where you're like, "Well maybe it's just not going to happen for me. And maybe I should just settle into life and get married and have kids like my friends are doing ..."

But, you know, there was always this little piece of me, and I think Heather knew it, that was missing, you know, the singing. One of the overwhelming things when I finally get on that stage in L.A. was it was the first time in probably three years that I had been in front of a crowd of people like that. And it had been three years since I'd really sung to an audience that wasn't like at my church or ... and I was always in a choir then, and wasn't really doing a lot of solo singing ... And part of it was, "Do I still have it? Am I still that guy?"

There were a lot of doubts. Some of the nervousness that you saw coming out on stage was, you know, your comeback into the opera world is going to be singing "Nessun Dorma" ... on television, in front of 24 million people, plus the 2,000 people in the audience, and the only thing you're thinking to yourself is, "Can I still pull this off? Am I still the same guy I was at conservatory or at Mizzou or Southeast?"

And the nerves turned into ... adrenaline, and I rode adrenaline all throughout that song, and I think that comes across.

MS: In the end, was that performance what you'd hoped it would be when you went up there?

NB: No. In the end it was much, much bigger. I thought, you got done singing, the judges gave you their comments and you walked offstage because that's how it was on "American Idol." And ... when I was in the middle of the song and I hit that first -- I think it was high A -- and my arms just kind of swung back, and ... literally, everybody just jumps up at once, and it was just overwhelming. And then, I'm just kind of scanning the audience going "Oh my goodness" ... and I started thinking to myself as it was going on, "This is going very well," is what I was thinking in my head, and they're really liking this, and the song's not over yet. And you also realize too, that the 2,000 people out there, they're not opera lovers, and so they've probably never heard this aria. Kind of like when I was a kid. And you're like, "Well, I'm getting ready to end this piece, and hopefully when I'm done with it, everybody will love opera." And it just, it kept building and building. And I felt it in myself, and I see it when I watch it ... it's coming. And I just punched it with everything I had, and the applause just kept going on ... I was thanking my mom, I was thanking my family, I was thanking the judges and I was thanking them for the opportunity. And I just felt so, I felt so much better. And I was completely overwhelmed with the reaction. And when that happens to me -- when you're overwhelmed, and you're in the middle of your dream and you've pulled it off -- you know, that's when the tears start coming. And you're doing everything to, you know, just fight them back and hold them back, they're tears of joy ... it's such a huge moment, probably one of the best singing moments in my life. I remember I was just looking out at the crowd and going "What just happened?" These people are really, really, really ramped up, and to have the judges say what they said, and to have David Hasselhoff say what he said initially.

The only thing you could say was just "Keep it together ..." because you just want to jump up and down, and scream. Because I was expected just one little, something, to take the moment down a little bit, and it just didn't come. And so, that's where the ... the punch ... that's where it came from. You can see it in my hands -- "Just say I'm going" -- and then you're just like "boom, it's over. Fantastic."

It was so exciting.

MS: How did you find out about "America's Got Talent" and decide that's how you wanted to try to make a comeback? And how did you end up in L.A. for the first audition?

NB: ... Heather and I have watched the show for years ... Heather and I had favorite shows like "Heroes," "Biggest Loser" -- go figure -- and "America's Got Talent," those are three of our favorite shows and we watched "American Idol" ... I think when I was at my lowest point, which would have been not long after Pavarotti died, if you looked at my website then, I had this tribute for like six months, and I really was upset, because it's kind of like ... when great leaders die. When this is the person that you emulated your entire life, is gone, it leaves you empty, kind of like when I lost my grandmother recently. It's kind of like "What do I do now?" And I listened to recordings over and over and over again, and it was just overwhelming.

And I know Heather saw that, and she went online and found the application, and said, "You need to do this show." And ... I told her no, "I don't have a shot at something like this, it's not going to come like this for me" ... When you almost get there a few times in your life and then it doesn't happen, you kind of lose a lot of your self-esteem. So we ... sent in the application. A couple of weeks later, the producers said, "We have a time for you, but it's in Los Angeles." And ... I went out there ... and I did what I did, what you saw on TV.

MS: You were reluctant, but it worked out. I bet you're glad you did it now.

NB: Absolutely. You just didn't want to get let down.

MS: Last question: What would you like to say to the people here at home?

NB: I'm so grateful to have had the friends and the family that I've had. And the community support since this thing began ... it just, I couldn't be more blessed. And I see some of the other contestants, and I just know from talking to a lot of them that they don't necessarily have the lifelong friends and the support that I've had over the years, and it's not a usual kind of thing. It's not something that everybody in life gets, that kind of support and that kind of love. And if I could tell people one thing ... it's just thank you for all these years of sticking with me, even when I wasn't at my best. My friends didn't give up on me, they may have known I was struggling, and they may have know I was sick ... but they never told me, "Neal, it's time to give up on your dream and just go away." They kind of rallied around me and gave me more love ... more support. And I'm so thankful, I'm so grateful to everybody for that. It's fun for me to be able to be on the show and represent where I came from, and to talk about where I came from.

Just tell them thank you, more than anything else ... thank you so much.

Neal E. Boyd interview audio: Part 1

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Neal E. Boyd interview audio: Part 2

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Neal E. Boyd interview audio: Part 3

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Neal E. Boyd interview audio: Part 4

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