James Horner

James Roy Horner(August 14, 1953– June 22, 2015) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator offilm scores. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of hisfilm scores, and for his frequent use of motifs associated withCeltic music. Horner was an accomplished concert hall composer before he moved into writing film scores. His first major film score was for the 1979 filmThe Lady in Red, but did not establish himself as a mainstream composer until he worked on the 1982 filmStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.Horner's score forTitanicis the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all timewhileTitanicandAvatar, both directed by James Cameron, are the twohighest-grossing films of all time. Horner collaborated on multiple projects with directors includingDon Bluth,James Cameron,Walter HillandRon Howard; producers includingDavid Kirschner,Jon Landau,Brian GrazerandSteven Spielberg; and songwriters includingWill Jennings,Barry MannandCynthia Weil. Horner composed music for over 100 films; he won twoAcademy Awards, twoGolden Globe Awards, threeSatellite Awards, and threeSaturn Awards, and was nominated for threeBritish Academy Film Awards. Horner died when his single-engineTucanoaircraft crashed in theLos Padres National Forest. He was 61.