He was the drummer on the album The In Crowd which earned the Ramsey Lewis Trio critical praise and the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance.

[4] Holt enlisted in the United States Army in 1954[2] and was stationed in Germany, where he played with a military band, and upon his return worked with Lewis, alongside Young, from 1956 to 1966, in addition to recording with Earl Bostic and James Moody near the end of the 1950s.

In 1966, Young and Holt split with Lewis and formed their own group, Young-Holt Unlimited, which went on to achieve commercial success as an instrumental soul band.

[2] Their band's biggest hit was released in November 1968 as "Soulful Strut" credited to Young-Holt Unlimited and it became a gold record No.

He founded the Gumption Artist Workshop, which was active from 1980 to 1985, and played internationally, including at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival and in Singapore in the late-1980s and early-1990s.