Titanic and Braveheart composer James Horner has died in a plane crash near Santa Barbara aged 61.

James Horner’s death was confirmed by Sylvia Patrycja, who is identified on the composer’s film music page as his assistant.

“We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart and unbelievable talent,” Sylvia Patrycja wrote on Facebook on June 22.

“He died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love and see you down the road.”

James Horner is reported to have been alone aboard a two-seater single-engine plane which crashed about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara on Monday morning.

The two-time Oscar winner worked on three James Cameron films, as well as A Beautiful Mind, Troy and Apollo 13.

James Horner won one Oscar for James Cameron’s Titanic film score and one for its theme song.

His score for Titanic sold a whopping 27 million copies worldwide.

James Horner’s fruitful partnership with James Cameron also netted him Oscar nominations for original score for the blockbusters Aliens (1986) and Avatar (2009). The pair reportedly were also at work on Avatar sequels.