‘Unforgettable’ John Holt remembered by sister on death anniversary
When John Holt died at The Wellington Hospital in London on October 20, 2014, one of the persons at his bedside was his older sister Patsy.
Nine years later, the longtime London resident remembers her younger brother who was 69 when he passed away, telling Observer Online that while he is gone, “He will never be forgotten.”
One of reggae’s great vocalists, Holt succumbed to a cancer-related illness. His flood of hit songs, which include Wear You to The Ball, The Tide is High, Stick by Me and Strange Things, were done solo or as a member of The Paragons.
“I will never forget him, we had a very close relationship,” said Patsy, who recalled John’s early career ambitions.
“His dream was to be a great singer or cricketer.”
The Holts lived in the middle-class Kingston community of Greenwich Farm. The family’s lineage was steeped in cricket, with their cousins John Kenneth Holt senior and junior both playing for Jamaica at first-class level.
J K Holt Jr also played for the West Indies during the 1950s, scoring two Test centuries.
Holt, who was also christened John Kenneth Holt, scored heavily as an artiste. Prior to launching his recording career, he won the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour talent show several times.
He hit it big with The Paragons at producer Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle studio during the rocksteady era of the mid and late-1960s, before going solo at the end of that decade.
Patsy Holt is the fourth of her parents’ children and was one year older than her famous sibling. She lists Stick by Me, The Tide is High, Stealing, Stealing, If I Were A Carpenter, A Love I Can Feel and This Whole Heart of Mine as her favourite John Holt songs.