John Holt RIP

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Veteran-singer-John-Holt-is-dead

 

Reggae legend!

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/20/reggae-singer-john-holt-dies-aged-69-veteran

Very few people here probably even know he wrote The Tide Is High

 

He did do some great tunes... 'Man Next Door', 'Hooligan' and euhm... 'Police in Helicopter'
R.I.P.

 

R.I.P John Holt... A foundation singer and one of THE voices of Reggae!

It seems from the lack of responses here that maybe few knew who he was at all...

 

They're more interested on what Paul McCartney had for breakfast

 

John Holt didn't get the respect he deserved even from many Reggae fans, so maybe not surprising that the general music fan does not know him too well. Good initiative with the link, I will post some favourites as a tribute.

 

On The Beach is one of my favourite reggae albums.

He did have a No1 single in the UK!

 

I duplicated your post, so I changed it to another song.

Maybe I should have said that he "doesn't get the respect he deserves", because what I meant was that many Roots Reggae fans nowadays tend to look down on him simply because of his success on the UK charts back in the day. Sure he made some sweetened poppy material aimed at the charts, but on the one hand there was much more to him than that, and also on the other hand think about the doors he opened with that success.

 

I hate to use the word. But he was well respected by "real" reggae fans. In America it seems you
have two types of reggae music lovers. Those who only listen to the Bob Marley sound and those
who have delved deep into the roots side of the music. The latter would probably consider his
music too soft with the strings and such.

Anyways, he was well loved on the Island of Jamaica with 20 years of hits records, both solo
and with The Paragons.

RIP Mr. Holt.

Here's one of my faves, which he re-recorded several times and had a hit with each one.

 

Good one, here is one of those equally great re-recordings:

 

Treasure Isle is getting some playing tonight.

Too many reggae legends gone too soon

 

Another Channel One re-recording:

 

If I had not come into contact with a good Paragons/Holt compilation at my local public library, I'm not sure I would've clicked on his overall influence. Sad news for the music fan.

 

And anyone who hasn't heard this original needs to hear it now. Not just because it's nicely done, but because it reveals how very little that Blondie added to the song 14 years later except being Blondie.

 

R.I.P.

 

RIP

Smooth, soulful voice and an all around great talent and gentleman. His recordings at Studio One are some of my favorites from that label, but his material on Treasure Isle, then with Harry Mudie, Phil Pratt, and then Channel One are classics.

 

One more Channel One classic:

 

John Holt Channel One Continued...