World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

John Holt

Artist. Rocksteady, reggae

Active
1963-2014
Sunrise
July 11, 1947, Greenwich Town, Kingston
Sunset
October 19, 2014, London (complications from surgery)

John Kenneth Holt sang lead with the Paragons through the rocksteady years and then had a long solo career. He wrote "The Tide Is High," a hit for Blondie in 1980 and for Atomic Kitten in 2002. The Rough Guide calls him "mellow-voiced," and Peter Mason credits him with "the sweetest voice of any reggae singer bar Dennis Brown."

He was born in Greenwich Farm, Kingston, to a mother who worked as a nurse. From the age of twelve he entered the talent contests Vere Johns ran in Jamaican theaters, some of them broadcast on Radio Jamaica, and won twenty-eight of them; his last, in 1962, was with Solomon Burke's "Just Out of Reach." Leslie Kong recorded his first single, "Forever I'll Stay" backed with "I Cried a Tear," late in 1962, and he cut "Rum Bumper," a duet with Alton Ellis, for the Chins at Randy's.

In 1965 he joined the Binders, a group of Bob Andy, Garth "Tyrone" Evans, and Junior Menz, replacing their departed lead singer Leroy Stamp. Menz left soon afterward and Howard Barrett took his place, and the group renamed itself the Paragons. They recorded first for Coxsone Dodd and then, after Bob Andy left to go solo, as a trio for Duke Reid at Treasure Isle, backed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics. With both Evans and Barrett holding day jobs, Holt took on the writing and arranging. "Wear You to the Ball," "Happy Go Lucky Girl," "On the Beach," and "The Tide Is High" date from these years. Holt was also the link that brought U-Roy to Duke Reid, which led to U-Roy's run of Treasure Isle hits in 1970.

He left the group in 1970. "Stick By Me," a cover of Shep and the Limelites produced by Bunny Lee in 1972, was the biggest-selling Jamaican record of its year. 1000 Volts of Holt (1973), a set of covers including "Help Me Make It Through the Night," gave him a British audience and a nickname; it was certified gold in Britain in 2022. He recorded widely afterward, for Channel One, Harry J, Joe Gibbs, and others. His material was mostly romantic rather than conscious, the exception being "Police in Helicopter" (1983), produced by Henry "Junjo" Lawes, an attack on the government's marijuana eradication campaign.

Holt held the Order of Distinction. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2014, was taken ill at the One Love Festival in London that August, and departed at the Wellington Hospital in London two months later, at sixty-seven.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Wikipedia. "John Holt (singer)," Wikipedia, accessed October 2, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holt_(singer). Mason calls it a Holt composition "made more famous many years later by Blondie." Peter Mason, "John Holt Obituary," Guardian, October 20, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/20/john-holt.
  2. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 34. Mason, "John Holt Obituary."
  3. Wikipedia, citing the Jamaica Gleaner. "John Holt (singer)." Mason also gives Greenwich Farm. Mason, "John Holt Obituary."
  4. Mason says he entered his first contest at twelve and "won 28 titles over the next four years." Mason, "John Holt Obituary." Bradley names Holt among the alumni of the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 21.
  5. The Rough Guide: "a mellow-voiced 16-year-old named John Holt cut his debut ballads 'Forever I'll Stay'/'I Cried A Tear' for Beverley's late in 1962," and "recorded again for Randy's in 1964." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 34. Mason and Wikipedia date the single to 1963. Mason, "John Holt Obituary."; "John Holt (singer)." The Rough Guide notes that Vincent Chin produced Holt at Randy's. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 46. Katz says Holt and Ellis formed "a short-lived new duo," cutting "Rum Bumpers" in 1965. David Katz, "Alton Ellis," Guardian, October 14, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/oct/14/jamaica.
  6. The Rough Guide says he formed the Paragons "early in 1965." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 34. Wikipedia also gives 1965 for the Binders; Mason says he joined the Paragons in 1964. "John Holt (singer)."; Mason, "John Holt Obituary."
  7. The Rough Guide notes that Bob Andy "was a founder member, but had left by the time they joined Treasure Isle," and that Andy left in 1966. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 65, 78. Bradley lists the Paragons among Coxsone's rocksteady acts and their "My Best Girl" among Duke Reid's hits. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 171, 172.
  8. Mason: "he quickly became the lead singer, composer and arranger." Mason, "John Holt Obituary."
  9. The Rough Guide names "On The Beach" among the Paragons' Treasure Isle hits and notes U-Roy's version of "Wear You To the Ball." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 68, 219. Bradley points to the violin on "The Tide Is High" and dates to late 1967 the vocal-less cut of "On the Beach" that Ruddy Redwood played on his sound system. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 168, 312. Augustyn says the violinist Raymond "White Rum" Young played on "The Tide Is High," "recorded for Duke Reid in 1967." Heather Augustyn, "White Rum Raymond: Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae Violin," SkaBook (blog), February 20, 2014, https://skabook.com/2014/02/20/white-rum-raymond-ska-rocksteady-reggae-violin/.
  10. The accounts differ. U-Roy says Holt "came to a dance one night and hear me deejaying on one of his records, and went back to Duke Reid." His own account in Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 123. Bradley says Reid already knew of the Tubby's dub plates and, "using John Holt as a go-between," sent for U-Roy. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 298. A Daily Gleaner article of January 28, 1998, quoted by Augustyn, tells the first version: Holt "heard U Roy 'kicking up a storm' at the controls of King Tubby's Hi Fi and told legendary producer, Duke Reid." Heather Augustyn, "Paying Homage to John Holt," SkaBook (blog), October 24, 2014, https://skabook.com/2014/10/24/paying-homage-john-holt/.
  11. Mason dates the end of the Paragons to 1970, when Evans and Barrett emigrated to the US. Mason, "John Holt Obituary." Wikipedia says Barrett left in 1969 and Evans in 1970. "John Holt (singer)." Bradley and the Rough Guide place his early solo work at Studio One. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 213; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 90, 94.
  12. Wikipedia. "John Holt (singer)." Bradley names "Stick by Me" among Bunny Lee's early reggae successes, and the Rough Guide says it "heralded a new era of 'dread', tension-filled rhythms." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 226; Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 103. Katz calls it Holt's "rendition of Shep and the Limelites' Stick By Me," which "enjoyed an extended run in the Jamaican charts." David Katz, "Bunny Lee Obituary," Guardian, October 9, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/09/bunny-lee-obituary.
  13. Mason says "Help Me Make It Through the Night" reached number six in the UK. Mason, "John Holt Obituary." Bradley has it in the Top 20 in January 1975. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 258. Wikipedia, citing the Jamaica Observer, gives the 2022 BPI gold certification. "John Holt (singer)."
  14. The Rough Guide covers his Channel One album Up Park Camp and his 1974 Harry Mudie album Time Is the Master. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 159, 112. Wikipedia records solo sides for Harry J during the Paragons years. "John Holt (singer)." Katz says Sly Dunbar drummed on Holt's "adaptation of the Chi-Lites' Too Good to Be Forgotten" at Channel One for Bunny Lee. David Katz, "Sly Dunbar Obituary," Guardian, January 27, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jan/27/sly-dunbar-obituary.
  15. The Rough Guide credits Lawes with "Ghetto Queen," "Police In Helicopter," and a new "A Love I Can Feel." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 268. Mason dates the album to 1983. Mason, "John Holt Obituary."
  16. Wikipedia gives the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) in 2004. "John Holt (singer)."
  17. Wikipedia, citing the Jamaica Observer and the Voice. "John Holt (singer)." Mason says he was taken ill at the One Love festival in Milton Keynes. Mason, "John Holt Obituary."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map