James Horner, the Academy Award-winning music composer for the movie Titanic, has died at the age of 61 in a plane crash in Southern California. The plane – a single-engine S-312 Tucano MK1 turbo-prop with two seats – crashed about 9.30am local time on Monday in the Los Padres national forest, according to a spokesman for the Ventura County fire service. It was registered to Horner and no one else was on board with him at the time of the accident. Horner was a trained pilot and before news of his death was released, Jay Cooper, a lawyer for the family, confirmed the plane was one of several the composer owned.
Horner, a husband and father of two, was born in Los Angeles in 1953 to a production designer, Harry Horner, and his wife, Joan. He trained at the Royal College of Music in London before returning to study for a degree in music at the University of Southern California. After a composing career which began in the concert hall, Horner cut his teeth in Hollywood in the late 70s on The Lady in Red. He earned his first Academy award nomination for Aliens and went on to score more than 100 films, including the blockbusters Braveheart, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and Avatar. However, his most notable work will be the 1997 film Titanic, for which he took home two Oscars, one for Best Original Score, and another for writing the hugely popular theme song to the film My heart Will Go On, sung by Celine Dion.
Horner was currently at work on the score to the two sequels that have been planned to Avatar. His next film to be released will be Southpaw, the boxing drama starring Jake Gyllenhall and Rachel McAdams.
[blockquote cite=”James Horner” type=”left”]I’m a fanatic about Irish music. I love its moody, modal and timeless quality. I’m different from some other composers, because I don’t look at this as just a job. I think of music as art. [/blockquote]
Actors and filmmakers such as Ron Howard, Seth MacFarlane and Russell Crowe took to Twitter to pay tribute to Horner’s memory, and Josh Groban tweeted a video of Remember Me, a track that Horner penned for the 2004 movie Troy, along with the message “He wrote me a song that has such special meaning to me. We’ll always remember you, James. RIP. #genius.”
Brilliant Composer James Horner, friend & collaborator on 7 movies has tragically died in a plane crash. My heart aches for his loved ones.
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) June 23, 2015
My sincere condolences to the family, loved ones and friends of James Horner. #abeautifulmind
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) June 23, 2015
He wrote me a song that has such special meaning to me. We’ll always remember you, James. RIP. #genius http://t.co/S4SJUuDUrW
— josh groban (@joshgroban) June 23, 2015
