JOHN HOLT COMES HOME

THE body of veteran singer John Holt, accompanied by close relatives, arrived at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston from England yesterday evening.

Holt, 69, died in England on October 20. Here Renford Taylor, proprietor of Taylor's Funeral Home in Kingston, secures the casket bearing the body of the veteran singer. Tex Gallimore, nephew and road manager of Holt, said his uncle wanted to come back to Jamaica. "But he never made it in time," he said. Born in Greenwich Town, Kingston, in 1945, Holt left a massive catalogue of hit songs such as Stick By Me, Stealing Stealing, Ali Baba, The Tide Is High, and If I Were A Carpenter. Some of those songs were done with The Paragons, one of the rocksteady era's great acts. He is survived by his wife Merl, three sisters, three brothers, and 23 children. Holt's body will be interred at the Dovecot Memorial Park next week.