Toronto/CMEDIA: 57-year old Grammy award-winning country songwriter Brett James reportedly died Thursday in a plane crash in North Carolina.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a preliminary report that a small plane with three people aboard crashed Thursday afternoon “under unknown circumstances” in the woods in Franklin.
There were no survivors, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said in a statement.
According to information provided by the FAA, James was on a Cirrus SR22T, which was registered to him under his legal name of Brett James Cornelius.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said it was not known if he was the pilot and they will investigate the crash.
While confirming his death, the patrol also confirmed two other people on the plane were Melody Carole and Meryl Maxwell Wilson.
The plane had taken off from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville.
James was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and the organization posted an online statement of mourning.
According to his biography on the Hall of Fame’s site, James was a native of Oklahoma City and left medical school to pursue a music career in Nashville.
His first No. 1 hit was “Who I Am” in 2001, by Jessica Andrews. “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” which he co-wrote for Underwood, earned the 2006 Grammy for Best Country Song, among other honors.
With more than 500 of James’ songs recorded, for albums with combined sales of more than 110 million copies, according to his Grand Ole Opry biography online.
Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Nick Jonas and Meghan Trainor are included in the Other artists who sang his songs.
Additional hits include “Cowboy Casanova” by Underwood, “Out Last Night” by Chesney and “Summer Nights” by Rascal Flatts.
“Heartbroken to hear of the loss of my friend Brett James tonight,” country singer Jason Aldean posted on X. “I had nothing but love and respect for that guy and he helped change my life. Honored to have met him and worked with him.”
James recorded his own album in 2020.
“At my stage in life, I’m not going to write about driving around in pickup trucks, chasing girls,” he was quoted as saying on the Opry site. “It needed to feel more classic, lyrically. They all wound up being love songs, but hopefully love songs with a twist, that haven’t all been written before.”
