November 23, 2023
One of Philly's most celebrated duos is reportedly on the outs.
Daryl Hall and John Oates, the pop and R&B duo known for number one hits like "Private Eyes" and "Kiss On My List," is embroiled in a mysterious legal dispute after Hall sued his longtime musical collaborator in a Nashville court earlier this month.
Hall filed the lawsuit against Oates on Nov. 16 seeking to resolve an undisclosed business-related dispute and asking the court for a restraining order against Oates, Philadelphia magazine reported earlier this week. Beyond that, the exact nature of the legal complaint is unclear, as the lawsuit is currently under seal in Nashville Chancery Court.
The litigation, which was first revealed in a tweet by Nashville-based Axios reporter Nate Rau last week, has since made national headlines as reporters clamor to find out more about the legal rift between the revered songwriting duo.
After forming in Philadelphia in 1970, Daryl Hall and John Oates – commonly known as Hall & Oates for short – went on to record and release 18 studio albums and 63 singles over the years. The duo first achieved notable music industry success in 1976 when their song "Sara Smiles" reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The following year, their song "Rich Girl" reached number one on the Billboard chart, making it the first of six number one hits Hall & Oates would achieve over the course of their career. Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
Despite their success, the duo's personal relationship has not always remained as harmonious as their songwriting ability. In 2022, Hall described the spotlight-sharing nature of being part of a creative duo as "irksome" and "annoying" during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. At various points over the years, the two have gone extended periods without performing together.
The duo's Philly roots run deep. Born in Pottstown, Montgomery County, John Oates attended North Penn High School in North Wales before enrolling at Temple University as a journalism student in 1966. The following year, Oates met fellow Temple student Daryl Hall at the Adlephi Ballroom in West Philadelphia when an eruption of school gang-related violence disrupted a battle-of-the-bands competition they were both slated to play, Oates told the Temple News in 2008. After fleeing for safety, the two met in a service elevator – and the rest is multi-platinum, chart-topping music history.
The city of Philadelphia has remained intertwined with the iconic duo's music and reputation over the years, as evidenced by songs like "Fall in Philadelphia" and others that are included on a 2004 Hall & Oates collection titled "The Philly Years."
Hall & Oates have returned to the city countless times over the years – like in 2007 when they performed at the city’s July 4th celebration on the Ben Franklin Parkway in the pouring rain, or two years later when they played one of the last shows at The Spectrum before the iconic South Philly stadium was demolished.
Even their name was inspired by their time in Philly. According to an interview with the A.V. Club, the duo decided to go by "Hall & Oates" because that's how it was written on the mailbox of an apartment they were sharing in Philadelphia at the time.
It was Philly's music scene that initially helped draw Oates from the Montgomery County suburbs into the city to Temple University. As Oates told the student newspaper at his alma mater many years later, the duo still identifies closely with the city and its music.
“I like to think of ourselves as originators that are a part of a great tradition,” Oates told the Temple News. "The sound of Hall & Oates is the sound of Philadelphia.”
