Grammy-winning country artist Brett James died Thursday when a small plane he was flying in crashed in western North Carolina. He was 57.
Authorities said the Cirrus SR22T aircraft went down in a field near Iotla Valley Elementary School shortly before 3 p.m. Three people were aboard, and all were killed, according to WTVF. No one on the school campus, which is next to Macon County Airport, was injured.
Flight data shows the plane left Nashville's John C. Tune Airport shortly after 1:40 p.m. for the roughly 250-mile trip to Franklin. The aircraft, built in 2016, was registered to James under his legal name, Brett Cornelius, of Brentwood, Tennessee.
Emergency crews arrived to find the single-engine plane embedded in the ground. Footage from WYFF showed responders covering the wreckage with a tarp. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have opened an investigation.
James began his career in Nashville as a recording artist after leaving medical school in the early 1990s, according to Songwriter Universe. His self-titled album was released in 1995 and went on to co-write 27 country radio No. 1 singles, including Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," Dierks Bentley's "I Hold On," and Brantley Gilbert's "Bottoms Up."
He also contributed songs to artists such as Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, and Rascal Flatts, and co-wrote tracks with pop acts including Bon Jovi. James was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020.
Bentley credited James with helping refine the concept for his hit single, "I Hold On," a song written in the wake of Bentley losing his father.
"I brought a couple of roughly sketched verse ideas of 'I Hold On' to Brett after my dad died and he just did his thing," he said, according to the New York Post. The chorus is all him. When I sing that song live, I'm always thinking of my dad, but I also think about that day we wrote it. He just got it, just lit into it. It was one of the first times we wrote and I decided to drop the most meaningful and necessary idea of a song I had on him, because I felt like God was telling me to do so. Our friendship and that song changed my life. Prayers for his family."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.