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Monday 20 October 2014

Reggae Legend John Holt: 11th July 1947 - 19th October 2014


Reggae Legend John passed away on 19th October 2014 in a London Hospital. Aged 69 the cause of his death has not been released.

Holt was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1947. He released his first single on Island Records in 1962 (or 1963 not totally sure of the year) entitled 'I Cried A Tear'. He achieved some success with The Paragons, who are well known for the song 'The Tide is High' (written by Holt) that years later would become a Number One Hit for Blondie and the terribly untalented Atomic Kitten! Other classic songs by The Paragons include: 'Wear You To The Ball', 'Man Next Door', and 'Happy, Go Lucky Girl' to name but a few.

1967 Album Release 'On The Beach'.

In 1970 John Holt left The Paragons to concentrate on his solo career. He had recorded a number of solo tracks for Studio One including: 'A Love I Can Feel''OK Fred' (which would be a hit for Errol Dunkley), and 'Let's Build Our Dreams'.

His 1972 single, 'Stick By Me', would be one of the best selling singles in Jamaica. In the UK his most famous album has to be '1000 Volts of Holt' released on Trojan Records in 1973. The album was a compilation of cover tunes by Holt and spawned a Top Ten single with  'Help Me Make It Though The Night'.


Holt would continue to release albums and play live (in fact he had collapsed at a show - The One Love Festival in August this year and was taken to hospital).

More Music From John Holt

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