- Pop Rock duo Daryl Hall and John Oates formed in 1970, from Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
- Daryl Hall was born Daryl Hohl in Pottstown PA, and John Oates was born in NYC. They met at a band competition in 1967 in Philadelphia – Hall was heading The Temptones, and Oates was heading The Masters. There was gunfire during the event, and they met in a service elevator while trying to escape. They discovered that they had a similar interest in music, and that they both were attending Temple University in Philadelphia. They became friends and shared an apartment together – the mailbox said Hall & Oates, so that is what they went by when they they began working together in music in 1970.
- Their early albums showed a variety of sounds – folk, rock, soul and pop. They were not very successful, though their second album contained She’s Gone, which was re-released in 1976 and hit the top ten.
- Their fourth album, released in 1975 – simply named Hall & Oates – was their breakthrough. The single from the album, Sara Smile, peaked at #4. They followed up quickly with the album Bigger than Both of Us, which included their first #1 single – Rich Girl. By now, it was clear that they had found their sound – pop-rock music.
- The next 3 albums that they released in the late 70s were less successful – disco music was starting to dominate, and Hall & Oates did not have that sound.
- In 1980, they decided to produce their own music, and to record in New York instead of Los Angeles. The result was their ninth album – Voices. This reestablished them as pop music stars, with 4 successful singles, including Kiss On My List at #1 and You Make My Dreams at #5. Their next 3 albums, released in 1981, 1982 and 1984, were all hugely successful – the singles on these albums included #1 hits Private Eyes, I Can’t Go For That, Maneater and Out of Touch, and top 10 hits Did It in a Minute, One on One, Family Man, Say It Isn’t So, Adult Education and Method of Modern Love.
- They had become one of the biggest acts of the 80s. Their sound had evolved to a combo of doo-wop, soul, New Wave and rock. And, their videos on MTV were wildly popular, greatly adding to their success.
- They took a 4 year break from recording new studio music, and then released Ooh Yeah! in 1988. It contained 1 hit single – Everything Your Heart Desires reached #3 on the charts. Their later albums were not as popular. Their final album was a Christmas album released in 2006 – their version of It Came Upon A Midnight Clear hit #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
- In total, they released 18 studio albums, 11 live albums and 63 singles. In the U.S., it has added up to 13 million albums and 6 million singles sold. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
- Daryl Hall had a webcast called Live From Daryl’s House that he posted every month, starting in 2007. It featured Hall playing music with famous guest musicians from his house in the woods. It expanded to TV, but continued to be produced as a web based show. The last show featured Kenny Loggins in December 2016.
- Daryl Hall and John Oates continue to actively tour today – but in 2023, they have their own separate tours. They are 80s rock legends. Here’s the video of their biggest hit, Maneater. If you watched MTV in the early 80s, you saw this video thousands of times.