When John Oates spoke Rolling rock in January 2020, he explained how balancing his time between massive Hall & Oates gigs with longtime creative partner Daryl Hall and intimate solo gigs afforded him a dream life. “It keeps me balanced,” he said. “[When I tour solo], I carry my own gear. I show up with guitar in hand and put the amp in the back of my car. It's real and I love it. Then I go out there with Darryl and we fly in private planes and play the Garden and do all that. I love it.”
So it was quite a shock when, in November 2023, Hall accused Oates of committing “the ultimate treason of partnership” by trying to sell his share of his business without his permission in a legal filing that made headlines in Worldwide. They haven't played a show together since October 2022.[I am] deeply troubled by the deterioration of my relationship with John Oates and trust in John,” Hall told the court. “His behavior has become confrontational and aggressive instead of professional and polite.”
Oates was not willing to discuss details of the ongoing legal battle when spoken to RS recently for his new solo LP Reunification. But he explained why his attitude towards Hall & Oates changed so dramatically.
“I'll tell you what changed,” he says. “During the pandemic, there were no more private planes. There were no more arena shows or even acoustic shows. It gave me a chance to back off. I had a chance to reassess things. My wife and I decided it was time to give back. We started it Oates Song Fest for Feeding America, and we fed 350,000 families with it. And then I was asked to do Movember, which was a men's health movement. I just got out of the way to get back on stage with the big band and the big production.”
This great Hall & Oates production was at the center of his life for more than 50 years. He has delivered hits like “Maneater”, “Private Eyes” and “Kiss on My List” alongside Hall over a thousand times each. “I understand why people come and want to hear the greatest hits,” he says. “These songs will last forever. But I wanted to relegate them to the classic file they are in. And I wanted them to sound as good as possible, like they did when the spark was lit in the 70s and 80s. That's when these songs really resonated. Continuing to play them, for me, was no longer interesting. I just wanted to do something else.”
In his perfect world, the business dispute with Hall — what Oates calls “a very boring business matter” — would never have been made public. “There's always controversy when people are famous. People are always fascinated with the dynamic of a twin,” she says. “And to be very honest, Daryl and I have a business partnership and there were some things about the business that we disagreed with, which happens all the time in business. And we will solve it.” (A representative for Hall did not respond Rolling rockhis request for comment.)
Last year, Hall played a series of dates with Todd Rundgren. At the end of the night, they sang each other's songs together, including the 1979 Hall & Oates classic 'Wait for Me'. The lawsuit hit just before he flew out to start a new leg of the tour in Asia, and Hall accused Oates of trying to sabotage the tour. “This recent bad faith conduct by John Oates and the Oates Trust has created tremendous disruption, harm and hardship in my life,” Hall wrote in a legal filing. “I believe John Oates timed the Unauthorized Transaction to hurt me more.”
Oates says that's not true. “Is that what he said?” Oates asks. “I didn't even know he was going on tour. I had nothing to do with it. If that's how he perceived it, then that's how he perceived it. But, honestly, I don't follow him on social media. In fact, I don't even know what he does. I hope he's okay and I hope he's having a moment in his life, but he's not part of my life.”
According to Oates, he was also unaware that Hall was touring America with Elvis Costello later this year until RS informed him of the news. “I'm really happy that, in a way, this situation has given him a chance to be himself,” says Oates. “And however he wants to show himself and play and be creative as a person, I think that's great, because that's what I want to do.”
Despite the ongoing drama, Hall & Oates never officially broke up – they just stopped booking concert dates – and Wikipedia lists the duo's active years as “1970-present”. Should an official end date be added to the career of one of the most successful pop duos of all time? “You can ask Darryl the same question,” says Oates. “But yes. As far as I'm concerned, I've moved on. I feel like I've got a new lease on my creative life.”
He then picks up a book and begins to read a passage. “I'm basically a Taoist,” he says. “And I'm going to read you something that was in my daily meditation today. He says, “The rule for those who follow the Tao is this: 'Walk the path together as much as you can, and when you must part, never hold your partner back.'
“That's how I feel about things,” he continues. “A good friend of mine told me something when this was all starting. He said, “John, you were a musician before you met Daryl and you're still a musician. You are a person.” And Darryl and I were always called Darryl Hall and John Oates, because we always wanted to be perceived as two people working together. This was very important to us. If you look at the albums, you'll see it on every album. And so this is the ultimate expression of that.”
However, Hall and Oates were also best friends. They even lived in an apartment together. The team's name came from what their owner wrote on their mailbox: Hall & Oates. While they may never play together again, Oates doesn't rule out mending their friendship.
“I'm always open to it,” he says. “Daryl Hall is an amazing person. He is one of the great, great songwriters of all time, and without a doubt, one of the great singers of all time. I would never say anything negative about him. But we have different strategy for our life and we have different strategy for our professional life as well as our personal life. And that's it, so be it. We are old guys. We deserve to be allowed to do whatever we want.”
Does he hope these oldies can one day perform one last song together to end the story on a positive note? “I have no idea,” he says. “But I don't see it. I really don't. But life is funny. You never know what kind of curve he's going to throw at you.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/hall-and-oates-breakup-lawsuit-john-oates-interview-1235001966/