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Brett James

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the Australian football player of the same name, see Brett James (footballer).

Brett James
James performing in Germany, 2015
James performing in Germany, 2015
Background information
Birth nameBrett James Cornelius[1]
Born(1968-06-05)June 5, 1968
Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
DiedSeptember 18, 2025(2025-09-18) (aged 57)
near Franklin, North Carolina, U.S.
GenresCountry
Occupation
  • Singer-songwriter
  • Record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active
  • 1995–1998
  • 2002–2025
Labels

Brett James Cornelius (June 5, 1968 – September 18, 2025) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer based in Nashville. His compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists.[2] Signed to Career Records (a division of Arista Nashville) as a solo artist in 1995, James had three singles chart and released a self-titled debut album that year. Returning to Arista as a recording artist in 2002, he released two more singles. From the early 2000s, James became known primarily as a songwriter for other country and pop music artists. Among his compositions was Carrie Underwood's 2006 number-one hit "Jesus, Take the Wheel", which received Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. His writer's credits included number-one hits for Jessica Andrews, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Rodney Atkins, and Jason Aldean.

James, along with his wife, Melody, and her daughter, Meryl Maxwell Wilson, died in a plane crash in North Carolina on September 18, 2025.

Early life and singing career

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James was born in Columbia, Missouri, to his father, Dr. Sam Cornelius, a physician, and his mother, Carolyn. He graduated from Christian Heritage Academy high-school in Del City, Oklahoma in 1986. He attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, pledged with the Sigma Chi fraternity, and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He attended medical school for a time in the early 1990s, but dropped out to pursue a musical career as a recording artist on Career Records, a subsidiary of Arista Nashville, in 1995. Also in 1995, he released his self-titled debut album including the singles "Female Bonding," "If I Could See Love" and "Worth the Fall" which all charted.[3] Included on the album was "Wake Up and Smell the Whiskey", which was co-written and later released as a single by Dean Miller in 1997.[citation needed]

In addition, he appeared on two compilation albums issued by Arista Nashville. The first was 1996's Star of Wonder: A Country Christmas, on which he sang "What Child Is This?",[4] and the other was a country-gospel album entitled Peace in the Valley, to which he contributed a recording of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." This latter album was also promoted via a special on The Nashville Network (TNN), now Spike.[5] In 1998, James and Tammy Graham were both dropped from Career Records when it merged with Arista Nashville.[6]

James returned to his singing career in the early 2000s. After declining to join the band Sixwire,[7] he signed up again with Arista Nashville and began working with producer Dann Huff.[8] Although he twice had a song chart in the top 40 of the Hot Country Songs charts with "Chasing Amy" and "After All", he never released a full album.[3]

Songwriting career

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In 1998, James was at a low point: he had left medical school at the University of Oklahoma in Norman after one year for Nashville to make a career, but after nine months of waiting tables and attending many open mic nights, he had not had much success. He was dropped from his recording and publishing deals. James thought that he was in the wrong business, according to entertainment writer David Ross.[9] James met the music producer Mark Bright who agreed to sign him for very little money to Bright's new publishing company, "Teracel Music", as its first and only writer.[10] Six weeks into the agreement, James was accepted back into medical school and decided to resume his studies. Bright asked him if he would continue to write songs anyway satisfying the one-year agreement, and James promised to write every third day. He kept his promise and later said, "It was a big creative shift—letting go of the dream of being a big star and just trying to write some cool music."[9]

He wrote many songs including "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Cowboy Casanova" for Teracel, and his songs were recorded by artists including Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Jessica Andrews, Martina McBride and later Carrie Underwood. Within his contract with Teracel, James had a hot streak of 33 songs to be recorded by major artists. In 2000, James quit school for a final time.[11] The dean of the medical school agreed with James that his success as a songwriter was undeniable and wished him well, saying, "You have to go and do this... but you can't ever come back."[9]

His singles for other artists in the early 2000s included the number-one hits "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews and "Blessed" by McBride.[11] He continued to write for other artists, with two more of his songs topping the charts: "When the Sun Goes Down" by Chesney and Uncle Kracker, and "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood, in 2004 and 2006 respectively. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" also won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song, the latter of which was awarded to James and the song's other two songwriters.[12] Rodney Atkins' " In September 2025, Underwood revealed that James "basically wrote 75% of" "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and also had it "ready when he walked in the room."[13] It's America", Chesney's "Out Last Night" and Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova", all co-written by James, also topped the country charts in 2009. In 2010, James charted number one with Jason Aldean's "The Truth" and Chris Young's "The Man I Want to Be". ASCAP named James as their country songwriter of the year in 2006[14] and again in 2010.[15][16] Non-country artists who have recorded his works include Kelly Clarkson, the Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, and Paulina Rubio. James also co-wrote American Idol season 10 winner Scotty McCreery's debut single "I Love You This Big".[16]

In 2008, James began working as a record producer with his production credits including Gracin's We Weren't Crazy, Kristy Lee Cook's Why Wait,[17] a re-release of Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album, Jessica Simpson's Do You Know, and Kip Moore's Up All Night.

Death

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Wikinews has related news:
James, 2015

James was killed in the crash of his Cirrus SR22T airplane on the afternoon of September 18, 2025, near Franklin, North Carolina, at the age of 57. Two passengers aboard the plane – his second wife, Melody Wilson, 59, whom he married in 2021, and her daughter, Meryl Maxwell Wilson, 28 – also died in the accident.[18][19] The plane had taken off from John C. Tune Airport near Nashville before crashing in a field by Iotla Valley Elementary School in Franklin.[20][21] The aircraft, registered to James, came down near the runway of the Macon County Airport.[22][18] FlightAware data showed that the plane's last recorded speed was 83 miles per hour (134 km/h). The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident.[22] No one onboard the plane at the time survived, and only three people were confirmed dead.[23] James had four children by his first wife, Sandra Cornelius-Little.[19] Country singers Dierks Bentley, Josh Gracin, Sara Evans, and Carrie Underwood eulogized James in posts online. Underwood mentioned that he had once insisted she receive a full songwriting credit for a song of which she said he wrote 75 percent.[13]

Songs written by Brett James

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Main article: List of songs written by Brett James

James's songwriting credits include 26 number-one country hits. Besides those songs, he wrote several other top-10 country hits, including cuts performed by Rascal Flatts, Josh Gracin, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, and others.[16]

Discography

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Albums

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Title Album details
Brett James

Singles

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Year Single Peak positions Album
US Country
[3] 		CAN Country
[24]
1995 "Female Bonding" 60 89 Brett James
"If I Could See Love" 68 —
"Worth the Fall" 73 —
2002 "Chasin' Amy" 34 x —
2003 "After All" 39 x
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
"x" indicates that no relevant chart existed at the time

Music videos

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Year Video
1995 "Female Bonding"
"If I Could See Love"

References

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  1. ^ Full name per ASCAP database
  2. ^ "Brett James/Credits". allmusic.com. AllMusic (RhythmOne Group). Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
  4. ^ Morris, Edward (July 4, 1996). "Young at Heart". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on September 10, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  5. ^ Phillips, Carroll (March 26, 1997). "TNN's "Peace in Valley" blends top acts, gospel". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  6. ^ "Arista Nashville Trims Roster". Yahoo! Music. March 13, 1998. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  7. ^ Stark, Phyllis (June 13, 2002). "Sixwire in the spotlight". Billboard. p. 15. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  8. ^ Price, Deborah Evans (April 13, 2002). "Reviews". Billboard. p. 18.
  9. ^ a b c Ross, David M. (February 1, 2016). "Brett James: Follow The Music, Follow Your Heart". nekst.biz. David M. Ross. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  10. ^ McCall, Michael (July 7, 2013). "Interview: Mark Bright". countrymusichalloffame.org. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  11. ^ a b "2006 ASCAP Country Music Awards". ASCAP. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  12. ^ "Brett James — Grammy Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  13. ^ a b Watts, Marina (September 19, 2025). "Carrie Underwood Pays Tribute to "Jesus Take the Wheel" Songwriter Brett James: "I'll See You Again Someday"". Retrieved September 20, 2025.
  14. ^ Tucker, Ken (October 23, 2006). "Rich, James, Rutherford Top ASCAP Country Honors". Billboard. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  15. ^ "ASCAP Country Music Awards Honors Dierks Bentley, Brett James, Alan Jackson". American Songwriter. September 15, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c James, Brett (August 8, 2011). "Interview with Hit Country & Pop Songwriter Brett James, Two-Time ASCAP Songwriter of the Year" (Interview). Interviewed by Kawashima, Dale. SongwriterUniverse. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  17. ^ ""Idol" Kristy Lee Cook Signs With Arista Nashville, Again". Rolling Stone. July 1, 2008. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  18. ^ a b Griffin, Ashley (September 18, 2025). "Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James dies in plane crash near North Carolina school". WZTV. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  19. ^ a b Harp, Justin (September 19, 2025). "Country Songwriter Brett James' Wife and Stepdaughter Also Killed in North Carolina Plane Crash". Retrieved September 20, 2025.
  20. ^ Tsul, Karina; Cooper, Aaron; Rose, Andy (September 19, 2025). "Brett James, Grammy-winning 'Jesus, Take the Wheel' songwriter, dies in North Carolina plane crash". CNN. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  21. ^ Black, Lauren Jo (September 18, 2025). "BREAKING: Grammy-Winning Songwriter Brett James Dies in Tragic Plane Crash at 57". Country Now. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  22. ^ a b Yoon, John; Wolfe, Jonathan (September 19, 2025). "Brett James, Writer of Country Hits, Dies in Plane Crash in North Carolina". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  23. ^ Saunders, Angel (September 20, 2025). "Grammy-Winning Songwriter Brett James Dies in North Carolina Plane Crash with No Survivors". People. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
  24. ^ "RPM Country Tracks for August 21, 1995". RPM. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
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