Adele Bertei has accused producer David Holmes of exploiting Sinéad O’Connor’s memory after he posted about their work on what he described as her final album, ‘No Veteran Dies Alone’. Bertei alleges that O’Connor later removed Holmes from the project because she disliked his production, an allegation Holmes has not yet publicly addressed. The dispute matters because it concerns who should be credited for, and potentially control the release of, previously unheard work by the late Irish singer.

Holmes marked the third anniversary of O’Connor’s death by sharing messages in which she praised their work and said she hoped they would continue making records together. He called the unreleased album a “stone cold classic” and said he did not know whether it would be released; Bertei said the record could emerge when its custodians considered the timing right. O’Connor died in July 2023 aged 56, and NME said it had contacted Holmes’s spokesperson for comment.