Daryl Franklin Hohl was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1948. While on the streets of Philadelphia as a teenager, he became affiliated with Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and other soul artists. At the age of 17, he began his recording career as an artist and session 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. Both hid in an elevator, until the riot ended. While there, they discussed their musical ambitions.
Despite that chance meeting, it would be five years before they teamed up. Until then, both belonged to other gangs on campus.
In 1972, they joined and signed with Atlantic Records. After three albums and no hits, they signed with RCA Records.
On the charts, Hall and Oates landed on the Billboard Top 40 weekly charts 29 times and went to the top a total of six times. Here’s a look at Hall and Oates’ twenty biggest hits, according to Billboard’s Weekly Top 40 charts.
1. Maneater – 1982 – Their biggest hit to date, it was at the top of the charts for four weeks. Hall claims that the inspiration for this song was English model Kelly LeBrock.
2. Kiss On My List – 1981 – marked their return to the weekly Top 10 after a four-year dry spell and the start of a string of hits that spanned into the late 1980s.
3. Private Eyes – 1981 – title track from their album, this song featured guitarist G.E. Smith, who led the house band on Saturday Night Live for many years.
4. Out Of Touch – 1984 – Their last #1 single was also featured in the video game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”.
5. Rich Girl – 1977 – Her first No. 1 single was rumored to be about newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.
6. I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) – 1982 – not only went to #1 on the Pop Singles chart, but also went to #1 on the US R&B charts; a rare feat for a white act.
7. Say It Isn’t So – 1983 – a single from the greatest hits album, “Rock And Soul, Pt. 1.”
8. Everything Your Heart Desires – 1988 – his last 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 TV shows like “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 for Mike Oldfield, who released it in 1982.
13. She’s Gone – 1976 – Originally released in 1974, it only made it to #60 on the weekly charts. Following the success of her RCA hit “Sara Smile”, Atlantic Records reissued this song and it went to #7.
14. One On One – 1983 – Thanks to its reference to basketball, this song was featured in many NBA commercials in the mid-’80s.
15. Adult Education – 1984 – second single from the greatest hits album, “Rock And Soul, Pt. 1”.
16. Did It In A Minute – 1982 – a top 10 single from their album “Private Eyes.”
17. So Close – 1990 – John Bon Jovi and Danny Kortchmar produced their last hit single.
18. You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling – 1980 – A cover of the Righteous Brothers hit went to 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, both have had successful solo careers with Hall hitting the Top 10 in 1986 with “Dreamtime.” It wasn’t until 2002 that Oates released his first solo album, and although he has yet to have a successful solo single, he continues to record.
In 2008, Hall started a webcast, “Live From Daryl’s House”. She lives with her 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 No. 1 charting duo of the rock era.
