A songwriter who worked with icons like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood was tragically killed in a small plane crash on Thursday, along with two others.
Brett James, 57, was onboard his Cirrus SR22T when it went down west of Iotla Valley Elementary School at around 3pm in Franklin, North Carolina, WLOS reports.
He and the only two other passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, with the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announcing the tragic news later in the night. James was inducted into the Hall in 2020.
Students and staff at the nearby elementary school were left uninjured in relation to the crash, the Macon County Sheriff's Office has said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are now investigating what caused the plane - which departed from Nashville, Tennessee at around 12.41pm - to suddenly go down.
