In the entertainment business, years of partnership can mean a lot. And when you take that to beyond five decades, that’s almost unheard of. But for Daryl Hall and John Oates, those times became less dreams come true than nightmares of betrayal and mistrust, a one on one battle that ended the friendship of one of pop music’s seemingly most enduring duos.
So what, if anything, will it take for Hall and Oates to get back together again? According to Hall, “That ship has gone to the bottom of the ocean. I’ve had a lot of surprises in my life, disappointments, betrayals, so I’m kind of used to it.”
The rift between Hall and Oates isn’t quite as buried in their history as some might think, considering they go back 50 years. Even as recently as 2021, John Oates said, ”I’ll use a cliché to describe our relationship. You can’t have a sunset without a horizon. Daryl’s the sunset, I’m the horizon, and whether we like it or not he needs me and I need him. We’re like brothers. And brothers will knock heads, but they’ll love each other for ever. When you have had the same life experiences for over 50 years it does tend to bring a unique partnership.”
Not long after, Oates was trying to sell the music catalogue he and Hall had amassed since they launched their careers since 1972 with their debut, Whole Oats (their album titles would get a little better over the decades). This was the final tipping point for Daryl Hall, who would seek a restraining order against his former friend. As he also stated, “I’ve been involved with some pretty shady characters over the years. That’s where the problems start.”
Daryl Hall has continued to make the case that his contributions to the band far outweigh those of John Oates, which could be one of the key reasons why he either wouldn’t want to sell the rights or would want a bigger slice. “The songs with his lead vocal are the songs he wrote, and all the other ones, which is about 90 per cent, are the ones I wrote.”
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