Brett James, Grammy-Award Winning Songwriter, Dies In Plane Crash

Brett James, the acclaimed songwriter who won a Grammy Award for his work on Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, has died in a plane crash. He was 57.

According to WLOS, James was on board a small plane that went down in Macon County near Franklin, North Carolina, around 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, Sept. 18.

None of the three passengers on board survived, authorities say. The FAA reports that the aircraft was registered to Brett Cornelius of Brentwood, Tennessee; the artist’s full name is Brett James Cornelius.

Born on June 5, 1968, in Columbia, Missouri, James’ had planned to pursue a career in medicine, but he followed his heart and left medical school for the music industry. He signed with Arista Nashville’s imprint Career Records as a solo artist, and released a solo album in 1995.

James would become a behind-the-scenes star. Early on, he wrote for Billy Ray Cyrus, Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride, and in 2001 landed his first No. 1 with “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews.

All told, James would write more than 300 major-label cut songs for the likes of Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, and Underwood, whose 2005 single “Jesus, Take The Wheel” hit No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and captured two Grammy nominations, winning for best country song. The awards kept coming. “Jesus, Take The Wheel” also won the ACM single of the year, the ASCAP country song of the year and NSAI Song of the Year. He was twice named ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year, in 2006 and 2010.

James’ career was lauded when he was made as a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame of 2020, and in the same year released a self-written album, I Am Now. He had to wait until 2021 for the induction ceremony, which was postponed due to the pandemic.

By now, his catalog included “When The Sun Goes Down” by Kenny Chesney & Uncle Kracker, “Cowboy Casanova” by Carrie Underwood, “It’s America” by Rodney Atkins, “Out Last Night” by Kenny Chesney, “Summer Nights” by Rascal Flatts, “The Man I Want To Be” by Chris Young and “Bottoms Up” by Brantley Gilbert. Outside of country, James had a Latin hit with “The One You Love (Todo Mi Amor)” by Paulina Rubio.

As news of his passing spread, the music community paid tribute to a fine artist and songwriter. “We mourn the untimely loss of Hall of Fame member Brett James (“Jesus Take The Wheel” / “When The Sun Goes Down”), a 2020 inductee who was killed in a small-engine airplane crash on Sept. 18,” reads a social post from the Nashville Songwriters HOF.