Brett James

Early life and singing career

Brett James Cornelius was born in Columbia, Missouri, on June 5, 1968. His father, Sam Cornelius, was a physician. When he was a child, the family moved to Del City, Oklahoma, where he would graduate from Christian Heritage Academy. After high school, he attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. While attending, he received a guitar as a Christmas gift from his parents, and began writing songs in his free time. Upon graduation from Baylor University, he began attending medical school at University of Oklahoma before choosing to drop out in favor of a country music career. He was inspired to do so after attending a Steve Wariner concert. During spring break, he and some friends moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1992, where he submitted demos with the intent of signing to a record label. He was rejected by two other labels before signing with Arista Nashville in 1993.

1990s: Career Records

Crediting himself as Brett James, he began recording for Arista Nashville subsidiary Career Records. He recorded one self-titled album for Career, which accounted for three singles: "Female Bonding", "If I Could See Love", and "Worth the Fall". All made the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, though none reached top 40. Also 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. 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?", 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 former TNN (the Nashville Network). In 1998, James and Tammy Graham were both dropped from Career Records when Arista chose to shut down the Career label.

Following the failure of his self-titled album, James began re-attending University of Oklahoma to study pathology, living in Oklahoma with his parents while his wife remained in Nashville. Despite this, he signed a second contract with Teracel, then a new song publishing company owned by Mark Bright, 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." One song, "Love Is a Sweet Thing", was recorded by Faith Hill for her 1999 album Breathe. This led to him having over 30 of his compositions recorded by other artists, which in turn resulted in him dropping out of medical school in 2000, and returning to Nashville to resume music full-time.

21st century: Return to career

Between mid-2001 and late 2002, James had further success as a songwriter when two of his compositions reached number one on the Billboard country charts. These were "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews, and "Blessed" by Martina McBride. James was also offered an opportunity to join the band Sixwire, but turned it down. He then re-signed with Arista Nashville and began recording new material with producer and guitarist Dann Huff. The sessions with Huff resulted in the charting singles "Chasin' Amy" and "After All" between 2002 and 2003, although neither was included on an album.

Despite the failure of his return to Arista, James remained active as a songwriter. He had another number-one single in 2004 with "When the Sun Goes Down" by Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker. Two years later, Carrie Underwood had a number-one country single with James's composition "Jesus, Take the Wheel". The song 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. 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."

2006{{ndash}}2025: Continued songwriting success

ASCAP named James as their country songwriter of the year in 2006, and again in 2010. 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".

In 2008, James began working as a record producer with his production credits including Josh Gracin's We Weren't Crazy, Kristy Lee Cook's Why Wait, 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

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.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

Works cited

References

1. [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]]. "Brett James biography". [[AllMusic]].
2. Brandy McConnell. (December 2, 2009). "Doctor of songwriting: Oklahoman Brett James' career takes strange path to top of charts". [[The Oklahoman]].
3. Morris, Edward. (July 4, 1996). "Young at Heart". Nashville Scene.
4. Phillips, Carroll. (March 26, 1997). "TNN's "Peace in Valley" blends top acts, gospel". [[The Cincinnati Post]].
5. (March 13, 1998). "Arista Nashville Trims Roster". [[Yahoo! Music]].
6. (July 7, 2013). "Interview: Mark Bright". Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
7. (February 1, 2016). "Brett James: Follow The Music, Follow Your Heart". David M. Ross.
8. "2006 ASCAP Country Music Awards". [[ASCAP]].
9. Stark, Phyllis. (June 13, 2002). "Sixwire in the spotlight".
10. Price, Deborah Evans. (April 13, 2002). "Reviews".
11. Watts, Marina. (September 19, 2025). "Carrie Underwood Pays Tribute to "Jesus Take the Wheel" Songwriter Brett James: "I'll See You Again Someday"".
12. Tucker, Ken. (2006-10-23). "Rich, James, Rutherford Top ASCAP Country Honors".
13. . (2010-09-15). ["ASCAP Country Music Awards Honors Dierks Bentley, Brett James, Alan Jackson"](https://americansongwriter.com/ascap-country-music-awards-honors-dierks-bentley-brett-james-alan-jackson/).
14. James, Brett. (2011-08-08). "Interview with Hit Country & Pop Songwriter Brett James, Two-Time ASCAP Songwriter of the Year". SongwriterUniverse.
15. (July 1, 2008). ""Idol" Kristy Lee Cook Signs With Arista Nashville, Again".
16. Harp, Justin. (September 19, 2025). "Country Songwriter Brett James' Wife and Stepdaughter Also Killed in North Carolina Plane Crash".
17. (2025-09-19). "Brett James, Grammy-winning 'Jesus, Take the Wheel' songwriter, dies in North Carolina plane crash".
18. Black, Lauren Jo. (2025-09-18). "BREAKING: Grammy-Winning Songwriter Brett James Dies in Tragic Plane Crash at 57".
19. Griffin, Ashley. (18 September 2025). "Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James dies in plane crash near North Carolina school". WZTV.
20. (19 September 2025). "Brett James, Writer of Country Hits, Dies in Plane Crash in North Carolina". [[The New York Times]].
21. Saunders, Angel. (September 20, 2025). "Grammy-Winning Songwriter Brett James Dies in North Carolina Plane Crash with No Survivors". People.
22. "RPM Country Tracks for August 21, 1995". [[RPM (magazine).