Holt was born in Kingston in 1947. By the age of twelve, he was a regular entrant in talent contests run at Jamaican theatres by Vere Johns, winning one of these in 1962. He recorded his first single in 1963 with "I Cried a Tear" for record producer Leslie Kong, and also recorded a duet with Alton Ellis and the solo "Rum Bumbers" for producer Vincent "Randy" Chin. br br In 1965 Holt joined Bob Andy, Garth "Tyrone" Evans, and Junior Menz in their group the Binders; Menz departed to be replaced by Howard Barrett and they changed their name to the Paragons. They initially recorded for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One before cutting a succession of singles for Duke Reid at his Treasure Isle Studio in therocksteady era of 1966–1968; They enjoyed a string of hits, including "Ali Baba", "Tonight", "I See Your Face", and the Holt-penned "The Tide Is High" (later made famous byBlondie and also covered by Atomic Kitten). "Wear You to the Ball" was another of his hits with the Paragons, and hit the charts again when U-Roy added a Deejay verse to it. With Andy having left early on, the departures of Barrett (in 1969) and Evans (in 1970) brought the group to an end. During his time with the Paragons, he also recorded solo material for Studio One (including "Fancy Make-up", "A Love I Can Feel", "Let's Build Our Dreams" and "OK Fred") and Prince Buster ("Oh Girl", and "My Heart Is Gone"). br br Holt 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. His 1973 album, Time Is The Master, was successful, with orchestral arrangements recorded in London. The success of the string-laden reggae led to Trojan Records issuing a series of similarly arranged albums produced by Bunny Lee starting with the 1,000 Volts of Holt in 1973, acompilation of Holt's reggae cover versions of popular hits (and later followed by similarly named releases up to 3,000 Volts of Holt). 1,000 Volts spawned the UK Top 10 hit "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (written by Kris Kristofferson), which peaked at number 6, and included covers of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" and "Touch Me in the Morning" by Diana Ross. br br He had success back in Jamaica with "Up Park Camp", and his success continued into the 1980s with tracks such as "Police in Helicopter", recorded with producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes. He continued to tour regularly and performed in the United Kingdom with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with a live album taken from these shows released in 2001. br br br Having been taken ill at the One Love Festival on 16 August, Holt died on 20 October 2014 in the Wellington Hospital in London. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2014.