Daryl Hall & John Oates
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Tags: rock, pop, 80s, classic rock, soft rock
Daryl Hall and John Oates are the NUMBER-ONE SELLING DUO in music history!
Starting out as two devoted disciples of earlier soul greats, Daryl Hall & John Oates are
soul survivors in their own right. They have become such musical influences on some of
today’s popular artists that the September 2006 cover of Spin Magazine’s headline read:
“Why Hall and Oates are the New Velvet Underground.” Their artistic fan base includes
Rob Thomas, John Mayer, Brandon Flowers of the Killers, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab
For Cutie and MTV’s newest hipsters Gym Class Heroes who dubbed their tour “Daryl
Hall for President Tour 2007.” One of the most sampled artists today, their impact can be
heard everywhere from boy band harmonies, to neo-soul to rap-rock fusion.
Signed to Atlantic by Ahmet Ertegan in the 1970’s, Daryl Hall & John Oates have sold
more albums than any other duo in music history. Their 1973 debut album, Abandoned
Luncheonette, produced by Arif Mardin, yielded the Top 10 single, “She’s Gone,” which
also went to #1 on the R&B charts when it was covered by Taveras. The duo recorded
one more album with Atlantic, War Babies, (produced by Todd Rundgren) before they
left and promptly signed to RCA. Their tenure at RCA would catapult the duo to
international superstardom.
From the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s, the duo would score six #1 singles, including “Rich
Girl” (also #1 R&B), “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go For That (No Can
Do) (also #1 R&B), “Maneater” and “Out of Touch” from their six consecutive multiplatinum albums—’76’s Bigger Than Both of Us, ’80’s Voices, ’81’s Private Eyes, ‘82’s
H2O, ‘83’s Rock N Soul, Part I and ‘84’s Big Bam Boom. The era would also produce an
additional 5 Top 10 singles, “Sara Smile,” “One on One,” “You Make My Dreams,” “Say
It Isn’t So” and “Method of Modern Love.”
Daryl also wrote the H&O single “Everytime You Go Away,” which singer Paul Young
scored a number-one hit with a cover of the song in 1985.
That same year, Daryl and John, participated in the historic “We Are the World” session
as well as closing the Live Aid show in Philadelphia.
By 1987, the R.I.A.A. recognized Daryl Hall and John Oates as the NUMBER-ONE
SELLING DUO in music history, a record they still hold today.
On May 20, 2008, the duo was honored with the Icon Award during BMI’s 56th annual
Pop Awards. The award has previously gone to the Bee Gees, Crosby, Stills & Nash,
Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Willie Nelson, James Brown, Ray Davies, Carlos Santana and
Dolly Parton.
Daryl Hall’s latest project is a multi-award-winning monthly web series (and nationally
syndicated TV show), Live from Daryl’s House (www.livefromdarylshouse.com). “It was
a light bulb moment,” he says of the show’s genesis. “I’ve had this idea about just sitting
on the porch or in my living room, playing music with my friends and putting it up on the
Internet.” Live from Daryl’s House is also aired weekly on the Palladia Channel every
Thursday at 11pm EST/8pm PST.
The past episodes of Live From Daryl’s House have featured a mix of well-known
performers like Jason Mraz, Joe Walsh, Booker T and the MGs, Blind Boys of Alabama,
Rob Thomas, Train, Cee Lo Green, Smokey Robinson, The Doors’ Robby Krieger and
Ray Manzarek, Toots Hibbert, Nick Lowe, K.T. Tunstall, Todd Rundgren, Keb Mo, Dave
Stewart, Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik and Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump along with
newcomers such as Nick Waterhouse, Nikki Jean, Dirty Heads, Chiddy Bang, Rumer,
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Mayer Hawthorne, Eric Hutchinson, Chromeo, Matt
Nathanson, Parachute, Plain White T’s, Allen Stone, soul diva Sharon Jones, Diane
Birch, L.A. neo-R&B party band Fitz & the Tantrums, hot new alternative band Neon
Trees and veteran alternative mainstays Guster.
In April of 2011, John Oates released his solo album, Mississippi Mile on Elektra Records.
People Magazine gave the album 3 out of 4 stars. “[Mississippi Mile] has the opportunity
to reach across the board – and that’s a winning formula.” – Nashville Lifestyles
Daryl released his solo album, Laughing Down Crying, on Verve Records on September 27th
2011. The album has received a lot of critical acclaim from the Huffington Post, Spinner and Pop
Matters, who said: “With the songs that make up this fine collection of American soul and pop
music, Hall proves that with the pen and at the mic, his voice is more than capable of reaching the
depths and heights of emotional truth.”
Most recently as a duo, Daryl Hall & John Oates released their first box set, Do What
You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates. The box set
marks the first comprehensive multi-CD, multi-label deluxe box set compilation ever
assembled from their entire career’s work, four CDs containing 74 tracks (16 of them
previously unreleased). With the fortieth anniversary of their seminal second album, Abandoned Luncheonette,
2013 finds Daryl Hall and John Oates very much at the height of their powers making
their own kind of soul, with a new generation of musicians recognizing not only their
historic track record of success, but also their continuing influence and achievements.
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