A legal dispute is currently playing out between members of the pop rock duo Hall & Oates. Daryl Hall has filed a lawsuit against his longtime songwriting partner John Oates in a Nashville court.
Daryl Hall has filed a lawsuit against his longtime songwriting partner John Oates in a Nashville court
Since the case is sealed, few details about the situation have been made public. Hall and the Daryl Hall Revocable Revocable Trust filed the suit against Oates and the John W. Oates TISA Trust on Nov. 16, according to court documents obtained by The Messenger. It was submitted as a "contract/debt" lawsuit. Hall also reportedly filed a "verified complaint for preliminary relief" and requested a temporary restraining order against Oates, which was granted. It's scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 30.
Hall and Oates toured together as recently as last year and had plans to record new music before the pandemic. But they haven't released a studio album together since 2006's Home for Christmas. The pair of Philadelphia natives famously met in an elevator in 1967, and went on to record eight platinum records and six No. 1 hits together, including "Maneater" and "Out of Touch." But the relationship between the two musicians has not always been simple.
"He’s my business partner. He’s not my creative partner," Hall said of Oates during an episode of Bill Maher's Club Random podcast last September. "John and I are brothers, but we are not creative brothers. We are business partners. We made records called Hall & Oates together, but we’ve always been very separate, and that’s a really important thing for me."
In another interview last year with the Los Angeles Times, Hall confirmed he had no intention of releasing new music with Oates. "I don’t have any plans to work with John. I mean, whatever. Time will tell," he said. "Perceptions changed, life changed, everything changed," in the wake of the pandemic, Hall added. "I’m more interested in pursuing my own world. And so is John."
Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Hall's award-winning web series Live From Daryl's House returned this month after a several-year hiatus.
