Daryl Franklin Hohl was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1948. While on the streets of Philadelphia as a teenager, he joined Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and other soul artists. At the age of 17, he began his recording career as a session artist and musician with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.
John William Oates was born in New York City in 1949 and raised in the North Wales suburb of Philadelphia. While still in high school, Oates recorded his first single, in 1966, called “I Need Your Love.”
Both Hall and Oates attended Temple University, where they met in 1967. Hall notes that they met in a Philadelphia record store when a gang fight broke out. They both hid in an elevator, until the uproar ended. While there, they talked about their musical ambitions.
Despite that chance meeting, it would be five years before they came together. Until then, they both belonged to other gangs on campus.
In 1972, they joined and signed with Atlantic Records. After three albums and no hits, they signed to RCA Records.
On the charts, Hall and Oates landed on the weekly Billboard Top 40 charts 29 times and rose to the top a total of six times. Here’s a look at Hall and Oates’ Top Twenty Hits, based on Billboard’s Weekly Top 40 Charts.
1. Maneater – 1982 – his biggest hit, to date, was at the top of the charts for four weeks. Hall claims the inspiration for this song was English model Kelly LeBrock.
2. Kiss On My List – 1981 – marked his return to the weekly Top 10 after a four-year dry spell and the beginning of a string of hits that spanned into the late eighties.
3. Private Eyes – 1981 – title track from their album, this song featured guitarist GE Smith, who fronted the house band on Saturday Night Live for many years.
4. Out Of Touch – 1984 – His latest number one single also appeared in the video game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”.
5. Rich Girl – 1977 – His first number one single was rumored to be about newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.
6. I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) – 1982 – Not only did it go to # 1 on the Pop Singles chart, but it also reached # 1 on the US R&B charts; a rare feat for a white act.
7. Say It Isn’t So – 1983 – single that was included in the greatest hits album, “Rock And Soul, Pt. 1.”
8. Everything Your Heart Desires – 1988 – his latest Top 10 hit and his first for the Arista label.
9. Sara Smile – 1976 – his first hit was about Sara Allen, a woman with whom Hall had a romantic and professional relationship for more than three decades.
10. You Make My Dreams – 1981 – has appeared on such television shows as “Glee,” “King of the Hill,” and “The Office.”
11. Method Of Modern Love – 1985 – from the album “Big Bam Boom”.
12. Family Man – 1983 – Hall & Oates covered this song by Mike Oldfield who released it in 1982.
13. She’s Gone – 1976 – Originally released in 1974, it only peaked at # 60 on the weekly charts. Following the success of their RCA hit “Sara Smile”, Atlantic Records reissued this song and it reached # 7.
14. One On One – 1983 – Thanks to its reference to basketball, this song appeared in many NBA commercials in the mid-eighties.
15. Adult Education – 1984 – a second single from the greatest hits album, “Rock And Soul, Pt. 1.”
16. Did It In A Minute – 1982 – one of the top 10 singles from his album “Private Eyes”.
17. So Close – 1990 – his last hit single was produced by John Bon Jovi and Danny Kortchmar.
18. You’ve Lost That Love Feeling – 1980 – A cover of the Righteous Brothers hit hit number 12 on the weekly charts.
19. Wait For Me – 1980 – from the album “X-Static”.
20. Some things are better left unsaid – 1985
In 1985, the Hall and Oates album, “A Nite At The Apollo Live!” was recorded live at the reopening of the Apollo Theater in New York, which featured a Top 20 single, “The Way You Do The Things You Do / My Girl,” which featured Temptations artists David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks.
Separately, they have both had successful solo careers with Hall reaching the Top 10 in 1986 with “Dreamtime.” It wasn’t until 2002 that Oates released his first solo album, and while he has yet to have a successful solo single, he continues to record.
In 2008, Hall started a webcast, “Live From Daryl’s House.” He lives with his son and restores and preserves historic homes in the United States and England.
Oates continues to record and lives with his wife and son in Aspen, Colorado.
In the late 1980s, Daryl Hall and John Oates surpassed The Everly Brothers as the number one duo on the rock-era charts.