John Holt

John Holt is easily one of Jamaica's most accomplished musicians, and next month, the velvet-voiced singer who has delivered some of the island's most defining hits will be honoured by the government with an Order of Distinction for his contribution to Jamaican culture.

With close to 90 albums under his belt and more on the way, his catalogue is extremely impressive, but even more impressive is the number of number one hits he has - almost uncountable, beginning with his first ever recording Forever I Will Stay, which hit and stayed at number one on the RJR charts for two weeks when it was released in 1962.
Speaking on the telephone from his second home in Florida, John Holt chuckles when asked to rehash the highlights of his musical career.
"That's a long, long story." he says, but immediately jumps into the fascinating tale of his music-driven life.

"When I was a little boy, like about seven years of age, I used to sing for my sisters when we used to have concerts in our yard. I continued from there when my mother used to take me to sing for people at birthnight parties and weddings and things like that," he remembers.
Holt was born in Greenwich Farm in Kingston, and spent his young years growing up in various communities in south St Andrew. When he was about 12 years old, he stumbled into the music business, almost accidentally, when his friends pushed him into entering one of Kingston's many popular talent contests. At the time, he was living on Nelson Road off Maxfield Avenue, and he and his friends would go each week to the Majestic Theatre on Spanish Town Road, where show promoter and journalist Joseph Vere Johns held a weekly talent contest.

John Holt

"I was actually forced to go by Majestic Theatre - and I say forced because I used to sing for my friends, and one of them would dance at the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour and he would say 'John come on, you can win because you have a good voice'. So I followed him one Thursday. and I got booed!!" recalls Holt, laughing.

"I did have a good voice, but I was very nervous," explains the man who has played before thousands in audiences all over the world. His first stage appearance disappointing, the young Holt was prepared to let a career in music slide, but his friends would hear none of that.
"After that I was actually forced to go back - I didn't really want to go but my friend gave my name to Mr Johns, and I didn't even know it till I heard my name John Holt."
On his second appearance at the talent contest, he fared somewhat better: "When I heard my name, I got up and sang, and I came second."

By this time, Holt was bitten by the music bug, and from 1958 to 1962, he performed regularly on the show, until he finally won the competition in 1962. That win changed his life.
"After winning the finals, Leslie Kong from Beverly's Records, which was one of the biggest labels around at the time, came to my house and he had words with my mother, asking her to let me come and do recordings for him."
His mother Amy Holt, he remembers, acted as his first manager, negotiating with Kong for a good deal for her son.

"She pulled 33 pounds from him for my first record, and I did a lot of things with that," he remembers laughing.
In fact, he notes, it was winning the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, which set the stage for his development in the music industry.
"I never really went through a hard time coming up through the music industry; I think because of that finals that I won. Then my photograph came out in the Star and the Gleaner, and I had producers coming to me after that."
His first recording for Kong was Forever I'll Stay, but he didn't stay exclusively with Kong at Beverly's.

"After that I began to record for many people in Jamaica. I've actually recorded for every single producer during that time - you name them, I recorded a song with them," he says, explaining that as an up-and-coming act, it made more sense financially to do so.
"I've worked with all the big guys, all the producers at the time - Harry J, Lloyd, the Matador, Federal Records, Dynamic Records, West Indian Records Success Records, Jammy's the works," he adds.

He recorded as a solo artiste for a number of years, before teaming up with the Paragons - Howard Barrett, Tyrone Evans and Bob Andy - who just lost their lead singer Leroy Stamp. The only recording the four made together was a Coxsone Dodd-produced tune Good Luck And Goodbye before Bob Andy called it quits and told the group goodbye.
Holt, however, stuck with the group for a number of years, releasing in the time several of Jamaica's best known and most popular hits including One The Beach and Wear You To The Ball. After four years as a group, the trio split, and Holt ventured into his solo career. During this period, Holt recorded some of Jamaica's classic love songs, including A Love I Can Feel, Stranger In Love, Ali Baba and Stick By Me.

"There wasn't a day during my time when I didn't make two or three original recordings. My guitar was my closest friend during that time. Nothing really mattered to me during that time; it was just music, music going through my head."
Those days, although Holt admits to never having to 'struggle' in the way that many other musicians did, life was not altogether easy. Yes, there were the late nights and constant rehearsals, the rushing to studios and the like, but John Holt never compromised his music or his dignity, and kept true to his music, performing, recording and rehearsing as if his life depended on it.

"I used to have to travel around with my guitar; I used to walk, because at the time I didn't have a car or anything like that. I used to hate to take the bus because when you take the bus with a guitar people think you were a bar singer," he quips.
His perseverance and commitment paid off eventually, and his next big step took place when he travelled to England to further his career. The first time he went to England, says Holt, he wasn't impressed and had no intention of ever staying there.

"They started treating me like an egg, and I wasn't accustomed to that, so I stayed for about a day and a half before I ran away from them. I didn't like the way things were going and I didn't like the place either, there were all these high-rise and brick buildings and to me they reminded me of Jamaica's prisons. I didn't like it at all."
Still, he didn't cross England totally off, and about a week later he was back there, scheduled for a performance at London's Wembley Stadium.
"In fact, it was one of the biggest reggae shows of its time. It was all sold out, and according to reports I was the one who stole the show with tracks from the Love I Can Feel album," he says proudly.

After that, he hooked up with Tony Ashfield, a British producer who convinced young Holt to remain in England, where the singer worked steadily at introducing the British to the island sound. England was very good to Holt, and from his first hit on the UK charts, Help Me Make It Through The Night off his 1000 Volts of Holt album till today, he is loved and appreciated by reggae fans there. In fact, so established is Holt in England that for the past three years he has headlined his own show, John Holt in Concert with the London Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, performing before royals and commoners alike. In the three years, the concert, put on at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall, has attracted top reggae acts like Marcia Griffiths and Freddie McGregor to share the stage. In other concerts around the world, he's performed for dignitaries and the like, at times sharing the stage with top acts like Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Ben E King, Jerry Butler and Gladys Knight.

But John Holt isn't done yet, in fact, he doesn't see his contribution to Jamaica and reggae music as having an end point.
"I'm just here to keep reggae music on top. As long as I can help a little, I will help. I'm trying to help the music business by keeping clean lyrics, good melodies, songs with a good mood and good arrangements behind it so that it can be appreciated wherever good music is being played."
"It doesn't make sense to make a song that only Jamaican people can understand what it's saying," he adds wistfully.

Next month, he will be back home to receive his award, but certainly he will grace the Jamaican stage several more times before the year is out, sharing the tunes that made him a hit here and abroad.
"Home is all over the world, I have no special place. I can live anywhere," says the man who spends about four months each year touring and performing around the world. "But home-home is always Jamaica. I have no other kind of documents and I don't need any. I'm just a straightforward patriotic Jamaican, know what I mean? I'm always in Jamaica, even when I'm not here."

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