Busbee Fans Heartbroken Over Death of Acclaimed Songwriter Behind Keith Urban, Katy Perry, Maren Morris and More

Busbee, the songwriter behind hits for Maren Morris, Katy Perry, Keith Urban and many others, died [...]

Busbee, the songwriter behind hits for Maren Morris, Katy Perry, Keith Urban and many others, died at age 43. After news broke of his death late Sunday, fans of the multi-instrumentalist's work took to social media to share their sadness and send condolences to his family. Morris herself said she will "always love you and the songs and albums I was lucky to make with you."

"This news has landed heavily today. Our friend, creator and songwriter advocate [Busbee] sadly passed away this weekend. A talent as huge as his heart, a deeply spiritual man and devoted husband and father," Pulse Music Publishing's Maria Egan wrote on Instagram. "Everyone that knew him, even just as business colleagues, feels like a good friend has been lost today - they don't make many like this. He will be deeply missed by us and his beautiful family"

Busbee, born Michael James Ryan, wrote songs recorded by Rascal Flatts, The Fray, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Andtebellum, Katharine McPhee, Little big Town and Pink. In 2016, he worked on four songs for Morris' album Hero, including the hit country single "My Church." He worked with Perry and Timbaland on the 2009 hit "If We Ever Meet Again."

Fans took to Twitter to mourn Busbee's death.

Before busbee focused his career on country music, he was "totally on the jazz trajectory," he told Rolling Stone. However, while trying to gain his footing in the music industry, he moved to Nashville on the recommendation of a friend and found success in Music City.

"I started out and still would consider myself a pop writer," busbee told Rolling Stone. "But I'm very grateful to come up in the Nashville way of doing things – they have an incredibly high bar and talent level. One of the beautiful things about that system is that you get to write with so many people, and people are typically gracious [enough] to take the chance on you. If they think you're really talented, you're in – even if you haven't had a hit for a minute, because that happens to everybody. Pop is a little more like, 'Well, what have you done lately?'"

In addition to songwriting, busbee produced tracks with Lady Antebellum, Gavin DeGraw, Morris, Urban, Shakira and Adam Lambert.

Photo credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

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