Daryl Hall & John Oates

From Temple to the top of the charts

Daryl Hall, born Daryl Franklin Hohl in Pottstown on October 11, 1946, and John Oates, born in New York on April 7, 1948, met in 1967 at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia, Hall leading the Temptones and Oates the Masters, and both attended Temple University. The name is said to come from a shared apartment mailbox. They began working together seriously in 1970, after Oates returned from a long stay in Europe. Whole Oats (1972, Atlantic) and Abandoned Luncheonette (1973, number 33) brought no hit singles, though Tavares's cover of "She's Gone" went to number 1 on the R&B chart in 1974.

On RCA, "Sara Smile" reached 4 in 1976 and "Rich Girl" number 1 in March 1977. Voices (July 29, 1980) was followed by Private Eyes (1981, their first top ten album), H2O (1982, number 3, with "Maneater" at number 1 from December 18, 1982) and Big Bam Boom (1984, with "Out of Touch" at number 1 on December 8, 1984, their sixth US number one). The others were "Kiss on My List", "Private Eyes" and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", which also topped the R&B chart, rare for a white act. They played Live Aid in 1985 and Live at the Apollo with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks that year, moved to Arista around 1987 or 1988 for Ooh Yeah! (1988) and made Change of Season (1990), Marigold Sky (1997), Do It for Love (2003), Our Kind of Soul (2004) and Home for Christmas (2006). The RIAA called them the most successful duo in rock history in 1984.

Hall's web series Live from Daryl's House began in 2007. They entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 (inducted by Questlove) and the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 2, 2016, and toured with Tears for Fears in 2017. Oates's memoir Change of Seasons appeared in 2017. Oates told Rolling Stone in April 2024 that the duo would not perform together again, and Hall confirmed it. Wikipedia counts 18 studio albums and 29 of 33 singles charting on the Hot 100 from 1974 to 1991.