1967–1972: Formation and early years Daryl Franklin Hohl (born in
Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on October 11, 1946) and
John William Oates (born in
New York City on April 7, 1948) first met at the Adelphi Ballroom in
Philadelphia in 1967. Each was heading his own musical group, Hall with The Temptones and Oates with The Masters. They were attending a band competition, when they discovered that they were interested in the same music and both were attending
Temple University. They started spending time together and eventually shared a number of apartments in the city. One of the apartments they shared had "Hall & Oates" on the mailbox, which became the duo's common nickname. It took them another two years to form a musical duo, and three years after that, they signed to
Atlantic Records and released their debut album. The two did not start working together seriously until 1970 after Oates returned from an extended stay in Europe.'' Written for Hall's first wife, Bryna Lublin (Hall), the song was inspired by Oates being stood up on a date on New Year's Eve. Another
Abandoned Luncheonette single, "Las Vegas Turnaround", was written about (and mentioned by first name) Hall's girlfriend, flight attendant and future song-writing collaborator
Sara Allen.
1975–1977: First hits '', 1976 After the release of
War Babies in 1974, Hall & Oates left
Atlantic Records to join
RCA Records. The album cover depicted Hall & Oates, overly made up with
cosmetic blush to the point where they looked feminine, especially the long-haired and clean-shaven Hall. Hall later said in an interview for
VH1's
Behind the Music that he looked like "the girl I always wanted to go out with" on the album cover. This cover was designed by Pierre LaRoche, who created the cover for
Ziggy Stardust for
David Bowie. '' for Hall & Oates performance at
Cleveland Public Hall on December 10, 1976, sponsored by Belkin Productions and
WMMS "Sara Smile" became Hall & Oates' first Top 10 hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart in June 1976. Atlantic subsequently re-released "She's Gone", which reached number 7 in October 1976, and
Abandoned Luncheonette, which reached number 33 on the albums chart on November 20, 1976, and staying on for 38 weeks. Hall & Oates followed those hits with the more pop-oriented album
Bigger Than Both of Us later that year. Although the album's first single—the Philadelphia soul-oriented ballad "Do What You Want, Be What You Are"—barely made the Top 40, their second single, "
Rich Girl", was a smash.
1977–1978: Leaner years and Sacred Songs After this small run of hits, Hall & Oates still encountered difficulty getting radio play. Despite touring constantly and recording albums with efficiency, the duo could not find any pop success for a number of reasons, mainly because of the popularity of the disco genre. By the time they released the rock-oriented albums
Beauty on a Back Street in 1977 and
Along the Red Ledge in 1978, disco music was trendy and taking most of the spots in popular music. They did release a few hit singles during this period: the follow-up to "Rich Girl," "Back Together Again," hit the Top 40, and "It's a Laugh" (from
Along the Red Ledge) hit the top 20 in 1978. In 1977, RCA attempted to push Hall to the fore with his first solo effort
Sacred Songs. However, after being presented with the highly experimental recording, produced by
Robert Fripp of King Crimson, RCA became unwilling to release what was, in their view, a non-commercial album.
Sacred Songs was eventually released in 1980.
1979–1981: X-Static and Voices In late 1979, Hall & Oates released
X-Static – produced by
David Foster, which combined rock with
disco. The result was a pop classic that is often considered one of the greatest albums of the 1980s,
1982–1983: H2O and band changes Their next album,
H2O, a very polished, synth-heavy effort, became the duo's most successful album, with US sales eventually approaching four million copies.
H2O reached number 3 on the
Billboard charts (where it held for 15 weeks) and spawned three Top 10 singles. "
Maneater", the biggest hit of their career, reached number 1 on December 18, 1982, and stayed there for four weeks. The soulful ballad "
One on One" and a cover of
Mike Oldfield's "
Family Man" reached number 7 and number 6 in March and June 1983, respectively. According to Oates, they recorded approximately twenty songs for the album, of which nine did not make the final cut. He went on to say they usually had five or six tracks left over per album. For the
H2O album, Hall & Oates made some permanent changes to their current band. Drummer
Mickey Curry, who had appeared on some
Private Eyes tracks, including the title song, replaced
Jerry Marotta full-time. Bassist
Tom Wolk, who had
mimed John Siegler's bass line in the "
Private Eyes" video, replaced Siegler full-time. These two joined the band's holdovers—lead guitar player
G.E. Smith, and saxophonist
Charles DeChant. Wolk continued to perform with the duo until his death in early 2010, while Curry returned for the
Do It for Love and
Laughing Down Crying sessions.
1983–1984: ''Rock 'n Soul Part 1'' By the fall of 1983, Hall & Oates were one of the biggest pop music acts in the United States. They had five Number 1 singles to their credit, two consecutive Top 10 albums and were one of the biggest names on
MTV. Two covers of the 1957
Bobby Helms classic "
Jingle Bell Rock" were recorded—one with Hall on lead vocals, and the other with Oates on lead vocals—and released in time for Christmas 1983, complete with a humorous video of the band, that received extensive airplay on
MTV. In 1983, they released their first greatest hits album entitled ''
Rock 'n Soul Part 1''. The album peaked at Number 7, and the two new songs that were written and recorded for that LP also became Top 10 hits as well. The first single released from this album, "
Say It Isn't So", battled six weeks for the Number 1 spot with
Paul McCartney and
Michael Jackson's "
Say Say Say" at the peak of
Thriller mania. "Say It Isn't So" remained at number 2 for four weeks from December 10 through 31, 1983. Ruffin and Kendrick had originally recorded both songs with the Temptations in 1964. Hall & Oates both appeared on the USA for Africa "
We Are the World" project, with the former as one of the soloists and the latter as a chorus member, and performed at the
Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, with Ruffin and Kendrick. The Hall & Oates band also backed up
Mick Jagger's performance at this show. Hall, Oates, Ruffin and Kendrick performed again at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York later that year, complete with an Apollo Theater-style marquee descending on the stage during their performance. In May 1985, Hall & Oates performed at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. Just prior to Live Aid, on July 4, they participated in Liberty Concert, an outdoor benefit concert at
Liberty State Park in
Jersey City,
New Jersey for the restoration of the
Statue of Liberty, which was filmed for
HBO. It became a major music event, drawing an estimated crowd of over 60,000 people. In 1986, Hall scored a Top 5 US hit with "
Dreamtime", from his solo album
Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine. That album also included the Top 40 hit "
Foolish Pride" and the Top 100 hit "Someone Like You", later performed by the duo live on their "Behind the Music" set. Although Oates did not have a solo hit as a singer, he did contribute a solo track to the film
About Last Night and co-wrote (with
Iva Davies) and performed backing vocals on the 1987
Icehouse top 10 US hit "
Electric Blue". Oates also worked as producer, co-songwriter and co-lead vocalist of the single "Love Is Fire" by
The Parachute Club, which was a top 40 hit in Canada in 1987.
1988–1990: Arista years Hall & Oates signed with
Arista Records, their third record company, in 1987, shortly before the string of Top 10 hits ended, in
Tommy Mottola's effort to keep them under contract when their RCA obligation ran out. Their first album for the label,
Ooh Yeah!, included the hits "
Everything Your Heart Desires" Another song from the album, "
Don't Hold Back Your Love", was named by
SOCAN as the second-most performed song in Canada for 1992; it became a hit for Australian Sherbet front man,
Daryl Braithwaite, in his solo years, and has become a Hall & Oates staple in concert.
Change of Season was a more mainstream rock album than their previous work. Despite the fact that
Ooh Yeah! and
Change of Season reached platinum and gold status respectively, they were perceived as disappointments. In 1989, they covered and performed their own version of the
O'Jays song "
Love Train" for the film
Earth Girls Are Easy.
1991–2006: Do It for Love and Christmas album The duo's occasional song-writing collaborator
Janna Allen died of
leukemia in 1993. Hall & Oates released the
Marigold Sky album in 1997 (their first all-new studio album in seven years), which included an
Adult Contemporary hit "Promise Ain't Enough". They also released a "
VH1 Behind the Music"
Greatest Hits package shortly after appearing on the show in 2002. Hall & Oates released the
Do It for Love album in 2003, whose title track was a number one Adult Contemporary hit. They also released the
Hall & Oates Live DVD from an
A&E Live by Request special. This album was the first release (and first success) for their newest joint venture U-Watch Records. Hall has also released the solo albums
Soul Alone (1993) and ''
Can't Stop Dreaming (originally released in Japan in 1996), and a live two-disc solo album titled Live in Philadelphia'' (2004). Hall & Oates covered
Elton John's "
Philadelphia Freedom" on the 1991 John/
Taupin tribute album "
Two Rooms", saying in the booklet: "We chose 'Philadelphia Freedom' because the music is so close to our hearts, and the lyrics represent the way we feel about Philadelphia." Oates released his own solo album in 2002 entitled
Phunk Shui and a companion
live concert DVD. Hall & Oates also released their first CD of (mostly) covers,
Our Kind of Soul, in 2004. It includes some of their favorite
R&B songs, such as "
I'll Be Around" (their first Hot 100 entry in over a decade), "
Love T.K.O.", and
Dan Hartman's "
I Can Dream About You", among others. Hall & Oates remained on the touring circuit, traveling nearly as much as they did in years past. In addition, a DVD of live performances of the songs from
Our Kind of Soul was released in November 2005. Hall & Oates released a
Christmas album,
Home for Christmas, on October 3, 2006, which contained two Christmas originals and covers, including a version of "
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", which became their second number one Adult Contemporary hit.
2007–2013: Solo projects and hiatus In September 2007, representatives of
Montreal-based band
Chromeo stated in a press release, "Indeed, Chromeo's idols Hall and Oates have asked them to collaborate with them on their upcoming record! Needless to say, the gentlemen are giddy like schoolchildren to be given this opportunity", as reported by
Pitchfork Media. This collaboration with Chromeo was expected to be released in late 2008/early 2009, and was released as ''Live from Daryl's House''. On May 20, 2008, Hall & Oates were honored as
BMI Icons at the 56th annual BMI Pop Awards. As of 2008, their song-writing has collected 24 BMI Pop Awards and 14 BMI Million-Air awards. There were two notable nationally televised appearances for the duo in late 2008. On October 27, Oates sang the
national anthem before Game 5 of the
2008 World Series at
Citizens Bank Park in
Philadelphia (Hall had taken sick, and the game was called on account of rain after the top of the 6th inning, but resumed on October 29, and the
Phillies won, claiming their first
World Series Championship in 28 years). (Though born in New York, Oates was raised in a suburb of Philadelphia and attended
Temple University. On March 24, 2009, Hall & Oates performed together on the American television show
Dancing with the Stars. During 2009, the duo recorded a
cameo for the movie
You Again, performing "Kiss On My List" for the final scene and closing credits. On May 22 and 23, 2008, they performed at the
Troubadour, 35 years after first performing there as an opening act. They played many popular selections, including "Cab Driver" from Hall's solo album as well as several songs from the
Abandoned Luncheonette album, including "Had I Known You Better Then" which had never been performed live before. The performance was recorded as a concert film and later released in the US as a double CD set with DVD/Blu-ray Combo on November 25, 2008. In 2009 the live performances of "Sara Smile" from this album was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, an incredible 33 years after the original song was released. Concerning the nomination, Hall considered it truly a surprise. This made it the third time that the band was nominated for a Grammy Award; the other two times were in 1981 for "
Private Eyes" and 1983 for "Maneater". On October 13, 2009, a 4-CD box set was released, titled
Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall and John Oates. This set represents the most comprehensive hits collection by the duo as it includes songs from various labels. Also included are three songs recorded by Hall & Oates with their earlier bands prior to their forming Hall & Oates as a duo. The boxed set sold 5,000 copies the first hour and, in total, it has sold 15,000 copies, according to
Nielsen SoundScan, peaking at number 89 on the
Billboard 200 on October 23, 2009. In one of the last concerts at the
Wachovia Spectrum, Hall & Oates and Philadelphia-area musicians
The Hooters and
Todd Rundgren headlined a concert titled "Last Call". In 2010, Hall & Oates embarked on their "Do What You Want, Be What You Are" tour in the United States. They appeared on the
American Idol season finale on May 26, 2010, performing "You Make My Dreams". Also in 2010, Hall & Oates announced they would join a growing artists' boycott of the state of
Arizona over the state's recently passed
anti-illegal immigrant laws. On May 8, 2012, the two performed on the
NBC reality singing competition
The Voice.
2013–2023: Hall of Fame induction and aborted 19th album in
Rosemont, Illinois in 2017 in London, 2017 On October 16, 2013, Hall & Oates were announced as 2014 nominees for the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were announced as inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2014 on December 16, 2013. Hall started his monthly web series ''
Live from Daryl's House in 2007 after having the idea of "playing with my friends and putting it up on the Internet". The series features him jamming with various guest musicians in his house in the woods. Guest artists on the show have run the gamut of musical styles and influences, including artists such as Smokey Robinson, Robby Krieger from The Doors, Rumer, Nick Lowe, CeeLo Green, KT Tunstall, Todd Rundgren, Darius Rucker, and Chromeo. In 2010, Live From Daryl's House'' won a
Webby Award in the Variety category. In May 2014, Hall's home renovation program, ''Daryl's Restoration Over-Hall
, premiered on the DIY Network. On July 15, 2014, Hall & Oates performed in Ireland as a duo for the very first time (they each performed independently as solo acts before) at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin. The event was recorded, packaged as a two CD/DVD set and released as Live in Dublin'' in Germany March 27, 2015, and in the US on March 30, 2015. Hall & Oates indicated that the recorded concert was also being released in movie theaters nationwide for one day only. The duo made a cameo in the 2015
Happy Madison film
Pixels. On September 2, 2016, Hall & Oates received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work in the music industry, located at 6752
Hollywood Boulevard. In March 2017, it was announced that they would be touring the US from May to July 2017. The 29-date arena tour was with co-headliner
Tears for Fears. This included the
HoagieNation festival in Philadelphia, created by Hall & Oates. A "celebration of everything Philly", the event was held again in 2018 and 2021. Hall & Oates also headlined the BluesFest 2017 at the London O2 arena on October 28, 2017, supported by Chris Isaak. They played a Dublin concert the following night. Between May and June 2019 they made their first tour of Latin America, visiting Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Later they performed for the first time in Spain. In January 2020, Hall said that he was working on songs for the duo's next album. However, in a 2021 interview, Hall said that while progress initially was not affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic, work eventually stalled as he did not want to release anything that would become "irrelevant". By the time of the interview, he was uncertain about the prospect of a new album, stating that "things have changed". When asked by the
Los Angeles Times about the possibility of a new album in a March 2022 interview, Hall was still uncertain, simply stating "time will tell". On April 17, 2023, longtime keyboardist Eliot Lewis took to social media to announce that he would be departing the Hall & Oates band, Daryl Hall solo band, and the ''Live from Daryl's House'' band to "focus on [his] own music." Hall & Oates were inducted into the
National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
2023–2024: Lawsuit and split In November 2023, Hall filed a contract lawsuit under seal to prevent Oates from selling the pair's publishing rights, held by the pair's Whole Oats Enterprises, to
Primary Wave Music without consulting Hall. Hall received a restraining order from the court to prevent the sale until the pair had attempted to
arbitrate the matter between themselves. In April 2024, Oates said in an interview with
Rolling Stone that he had "moved on" from Hall & Oates and that the duo would never perform together again, with Hall confirming the same a month later in an interview with
Variety. On August 11, 2025, it was reported that the duo settled in arbitration and had filed to dismiss the case, though without details as to when the settlement was reached. == Artistry ==