Junior Holt returns to New York stage
Whenever Junior Holt hits the stage, his objective is two-fold — to give a strong performance and keep his father’s legacy alive.
It will be no different on June 24 when he headlines Fish Fry, scheduled for The Outside Lounge in Queens, New York.
Based in Connecticut, Holt lived for several years in the Big Apple before moving to New England. He describes New York as “a special place” and points to performing at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1997, as a career highlight.
New York was also a happy stomping ground for his father, John Holt, the legendary singer who died in 2014.
Junior Holt’s set is usually dominated by songs from his old man’s vast catalogue including Stick by Me, A Love I Can Feel, Stealing Stealing, Sweetie Come Brush Me and Stranger in Love.
While Holt senior had a following in Europe, he never made it big in the United States outside cities with big Jamaican communities. That’s something Junior Holt is aware of.
“Is certain people in the US know John Holt like in New York, Miami, Cali (California) and Atlanta. There are places where people don’t know who he is; yuh have to sing certain songs like The Tide is High before dem know,” he told OBSERVER ONLINE.
Holt recorded The Tide is High with rocksteady trio The Paragons in the late 1960s for producer Duke Reid. Rock group Blondie covered it in 1980 and it went number one in the US.
Junior Holt began recording during the 1980s. Since his father’s death, he and his son Bamm Holt have covered several of John Holt’s songs, hoping to reach a contemporary audience.
Last October, they produced a tribute show for the late singer at The Garden in Fort Lauderdale. The second staging of that event is scheduled for October, again in South Florida.