Reggae music lost another one of its true greats
over the weekend with the death of John Holt. Holt was the lead vocalist and a formidable wordsmith for The Paragons in the Sixties – writing many hits, including ‘The Tide Is High’, which eventually became a monster smash for Blondie.
He then went on to enjoy a relatively successful solo career, and became respected for his many cover versions as much as he was for recordings of his own original material.
Holt died in London after a short illness, some reports suggest he was 69, others say 67, and after checking with Wiki and applying some basic math - using fingers - I'm inclined to go with the latter.
Here’s my favourite Holt moment, ‘Ali Baba’ …
