British rock band Coldplay is being sued by their former manager of more than 20 years, Dave Holmes, over a breach-of-contract dispute, according to legal documents filed in the UK.
Coldplay is being sued by former manager Dave Holmes, according to legal documents filed recently in the UK and confirmed by a representative for the band. Holmes worked with the band for 22 years — almost the entirety of Coldplay’s professional career — and parted ways 12 months ago. The band is currently managed by a team consisting of Phil Harvey, Mandi Frost, and Arlene Moon, who worked with them alongside Holmes for many years.
Sources report that the lawsuit is a contractual dispute, though the legal documents have yet to be made publicly available, making details sparse. Coldplay re-upped their deal in 2021 with Warner Music’s Parlophone in the UK and Atlantic in the US, as well as Wasserman Agency, just before the release of their most recent studio album, ‘Music of the Spheres,’ produced by Max Martin.
Coldplay — consisting of frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion — have sold over 100 million albums worldwide and notched seven Grammy Awards since their debut, “Parachutes,” in 2000. The group met as students at the University College of London and officially formed the band in 1997.
Holmes recalled sharing a copy of “Parachutes” with his mother shortly after its release. “I told her, ‘I just started working with this band, and they’re going to be as big as U2,’” he told Variety in 2018 upon the release of the Coldplay documentary, “Headful of Dreams.” “I knew it. I just knew.”
Initially signed to Parlophone UK in 1999, when the label belonged to EMI, Coldplay was also signed to Capitol in the US. Universal Music Group acquired EMI in 2012, divesting itself of Parlophone as a condition imposed by the European Commission. Parlophone was then scooped up by Warner Music Group, an acquisition that joined Coldplay to the Atlantic roster beginning in 2014 with their release “Ghost Stories.”
