Veteran reggae singer John Holt has died in a London hospital, aged 69. The news of his death on October 19th, was announces by Mr. Holt’s manager,Copeland Forbes, who told the Jamaica Observer Online. “John died at 2:40am English time. His [John’s] nephew informed [us] of his death.” The cause of Holt’s death has yet to be confirmed.

Holt was born in Kingston in 1947 and achieved prominence in Jamaica as lead singer of The Paragons. Holt penned “The Tide Is High”  a track which saw global notoriety in the 1980s with Blondie’s cover. Holt left the Paragons in 1970 and concentrated on his solo career. By the early 1970s, he was one of the biggest stars of reggae, and his “Stick By Me” was the biggest selling Jamaican record of 1972, one of a number of records recorded with producer Bunny Lee.

Source: Wikipedia, The Guardian, The Jamaica Observer