Music composer James Horner feared dead in plane crash

U.S. composer James Horner, Oscar winner for the ‘Titanic’ soundtrack and also composer for other successful movies including ‘Avatar’ and ‘Braveheart’, is feared dead, after his private plane crashed Monday in California.

Although local police are yet to confirm the identity of the victim, rumors about the death of Horner, 61, spread Tuesday after it was found that the crashed plane was registered under his name.

The Hollywood Reporter cited a message posted on social networking site Facebook by Horner’s personal assistant Sylvia Patrycja, informing about the artist’s death.

“We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart and unbelievable talent; he died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love,” Patrycja wrote.

However, Horner’s lawyer Jay Cooper said he could not confirm if Horner was flying the plane as the awardwinning composer owned several planes.

“He is an experienced pilot. He owns several planes. We have not heard from him,” Cooper told television channel CNN.

The plane crashed near Los Padres National Forest, 96 km (60 miles) north of Santa Barbara in California.

The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States identified the airplane as S312 Tucano MK1 and said the pilot died in the accident, adding local authorities will have to identify the victim.

A 10time Oscar nominee, Horner won two Oscars, one for the soundtrack of ‘Titanic’ (1997) and the other for the original song ‘My Heart Will Go On’ in the movie, sung by Canadian singer Celine Dion.

Horner was also nominated for the soundtracks of movies that included ‘Alien’, ‘Apollo 13’, ‘A Beautiful Mind’, ‘Avatar’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘Field of Dreams’ and ‘House of Sand and Fog’, and also for the original song ‘Somewhere Out There’ from the movie ‘An American Tail’.

Horner composed over 100 soundtracks for movies including ‘The Mask of the Zorro’, ‘Legends of the Fall’, ‘Casper’, ‘Jumanji’ and ‘The Amazing SpiderMan’.

Born in Los Angeles in 1953, Horner began to play the piano at the age of five, going on to study at the Royal College of Music in London, according to a biography published on the Imdb website.

He returned to California in the 1970s, to continue studying music in two universities and received a doctorate in Music Composition and Theory from the University of California in Los Angeles.

Horner got his first big break with ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ (1982) and went on to work with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Oliver Stone and Ron Howard, among others.