Music legend James Horner, the Oscar-winning composer of Titanic, has died due to plane crash in southern California. Horner, aged 61, is a trained pilot and he is reported to have been alone aboard a small private plane which crashed north of Santa Barbara. The musician worked on three James Cameron films, as well as A Beautiful Mind, Braveheart, Troy and Apollo 13.
He won one Oscar for the Titanic film score and another for its theme song. He shared his second Oscar with lyricist Will Jennings for best original song, the hugely successful My Heart Will Go On, sung by Celine Dion. Horner was nominated for a further eight Oscars, for scores and songs for the films Avatar, House of Sand and Fog, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Braveheart, Field of Dreams, An American Tail and Aliens.
James Horner
- Horner, who was born in 1953, started piano lessons aged five.
- He went on to study at London’s Royal College of Music before moving to California in the 70s.
- He went on to study music theory and composition, achieving a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and PhD, scoring student films as a sideline.
- His first break came with the score for 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- He went on to work with some of the biggest directors in film, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Ron Howard and Oliver Stone.
