Hall & Oates

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The 1980s brought about change for Hall & Oates. They had determined that the biggest problem was that their music was being filtered through outsider producers and studio musicians who weren't familiar with their own tastes and thoughts. They also wished to capture the sound of New York City, which by then had become their home. Instead of recording in Los Angeles like they'd done previously, they decided to record at Electric Lady Studios in New York, just five minutes away from their apartments. They also began producing their own records, using their touring band in the studio, and enlisting Hall's girlfriend Sara Allen (and also her sister Janna) as a songwriting collaborator.

Voices was written, produced and arranged by Daryl Hall & John Oates in one month according to their authorized biography Dangerous Dances (by Nick Tosches). The result was a clearer style and a better sound, and beginning with the Voices LP in 1980, Hall & Oates had found the missing link in their formula for hits.

The first two singles from the album charted fairly well, with "How Does It Feel to Be Back" charting at #30 and the well-received cover of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" just missed the top ten, peaking at #12, but spent fourteen weeks in the top forty. The third single, "Kiss on My List," hit number one in April 1981 and remained there for three weeks. The follow-up single, "You Make My Dreams," reached number five in July of that year.

The other well-known single from Voices, apart from those four hits, is the emotive ballad "Everytime You Go Away," with powerful lead vocals by Hall, who wrote it. British singer Paul Young had a Billboard number-one hit with a cover of the song in 1985. Though the Hall & Oates original (recorded in a Memphis soul style) was never released as a single, it remains a favorite on the duo's greatest hits albums, was featured on their Apollo Theater CD in 1985, and is frequently featured in their live set lists to this day.

The Voices album firmed-up the duo's working relationship with Neil Kernon, an engineer on the Voices set who would work as co-producer on the succeeding two albums that would ensure their status as music fixtures.

1981: Private Eyes

By the time "You Make My Dreams" was falling down the charts, Hall & Oates had already released their follow-up album Private Eyes. Having worked in the studio while Voices was at its peak in popularity, the two already had most of their material laid down and felt no need to repeat the old formula from that LP. The result was the first Hall & Oates album to reach the top ten on the Billboard 200 album chart. The four singles from Private Eyes all reached the top forty.

The title track and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" were consecutive number one hits, with the latter song hitting the top spot on the R&B and the pop charts (one of the few songs by a white act ever to do so). "Did It in a Minute" reached No. 9 in the spring of 1982, and "Your Imagination" peaked at No. 33. The set is considered among the duo's best albums, mixing soul, new wave, and power pop.

1982: H₂O

Next came H₂O, a polished, synth-heavy album that became the duo's most successful album to date. H₂O reached number three on the album charts and spawned three top-ten singles. "Maneater", the biggest hit of their career, reached the number-one spot on December 18, 1982 and stayed there for four weeks. The ballad "One on One" and a cover of Mike Oldfield's song "Family Man" reached number seven and number eight in March and June of 1983, respectively.

For the H₂O album, Hall & Oates made changes to their band. Drummer Mickey Curry -- who had appeared on some Private Eyes tracks, including the title song -- replaced Jerry Marotta full-time, and bassist Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who had mimed John Siegler's bass line in the "Private Eyes" video, replaced Siegler full-time. The two joined the band's holdovers — lead guitar player G.E. Smith, saxophonist Charles DeChant, and Hall & Oates to form one of the most acclaimed studio/backing units of the 1980s. DeChant and Wolk continue to perform with the duo to this day. Curry returned for the Do It for Love sessions.

1983: Rock 'n Soul Part 1

By the fall of 1983, Hall & Oates were one of the biggest pop music acts in America. They had five number-one singles to their credit, two consecutive top-ten albums, and were one of the biggest names on MTV. The constant loop of recording, promoting, and touring wore them down, though, and in 1983 they could only put out a greatest-hits package, Rock'n Soul Part 1. The album peaked at number seven and the two new songs on the LP both became top-ten hits as well.

The lead-off single for the Greatest Hits album, "Say It Isn't So", battled six weeks for the number-one spot with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson's "Say, Say, Say" at the high-point of the Thriller hysteria. "Say It Isn't So" remained at number two for an impressive four weeks from December 1983 to January 1984 (The battle with the McCartney/Jackson single led DJ Peter Bush of New York's WPLJ Radio, which had just switched from rock to Top 40 the previous June, to intro the Hall & Oates entry "Say, Say, Say It Isn't, Isn't, Isn't So, So, So").

Hall & Oates' followup, "Adult Education," got heavy airplay on both pop and black (urban contemporary) radio and hit number eight on the Billboard Hot 100) in April 1984. It was accompanied by a dark, New York City-oriented music video set in a cave. John Oates later told VH1 that the clip resembled the Survivor TV show on acid.

In that month, the Recording Industry Association of America issued a report declaring Hall & Oates as the most successful duo in the history of recorded music.

1984: Big Bam Boom

Hall & Oates returned to the studio in 1984 after some time off to begin work on the Big Bam Boom LP. Unlike their previous work, this album had a more urban feel to it. Noted remix and hip-hop icon Arthur Baker worked closely with the duo as a consultant and did dance remixes of four of the album's tracks.

The lead-off song, "Dance on Your Knees", (co-written by Baker and Hall) is basically an homage to the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's song "White Lines". Hall himself performs some light rapping on the songs "Method of Modern Love" and "All-American Girl". Released in late 1984, the first single off the LP, Out of Touch, became the group's sixth number-one hit on December 8 1984. "Method of Modern Love", which debuted on the pop charts while "Out of Touch" was at number one, reached number five in February 1985. "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid" and "Possession Obsession" reached the top thirty in 1985 as well.

1985: Live at the Apollo

Hall & Oates have almost always toured extensively. But in 1985, the duo took a break after the release of their Live at the Apollo album with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick -- voices of The Temptations and two of their heroes. This was RCA's second attempt at a live album, following the 1978 release Livetime, which the duo barely acknowledges today. Live at the Apollo was released primarily to fulfill the duo's contract with RCA, and contained a top-twenty hit with a medley of "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "My Girl", both hits Ruffin and Kendrick had recorded with the Temptations in 1964.

After the live recording in spring 1985, the quartet of Hall, Oates, Ruffin and Kendrick reprised their Big Chill-style performances in July at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, and again at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York later that year, complete with an Apollo Theater-style marquee descending on the stage during their performance. The Philly portion of the Live Aid concert used the Hall & Oates backing unit as the house band.

Just prior to Live Aid, on July 4 1985, Hall & Oates performed at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey as part of the Liberty Concert, where they played an outdoor benefit concert for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. It became a major music event drawing an estimated crowd of over 60,000 people.

1988-1990: The Arista Years

Hall & Oates signed with Arista Records in 1981, shortly before the string of top ten hits began, in Tommy Mottola's effort to keep them under contract when their RCA obligation ran out. Their first album for the label, Ooh Yeah!, included the hits "Everything Your Heart Desires" (number three hit in May 1988 - their last to make the top ten), "Missed Opportunity", and "Downtown Life". This may have been the last Hall and Oates album - other than greatest hits packages - to enjoy platinum success. Hall & Oates did one more album for Arista called Change of Season. The album's first single, "So Close" (co-produced by Jon Bon Jovi) hit number eleven on the pop charts and was Hall & Oates' last major hit. Another song off the album, "Don't Hold Back Your Love", has become a Hall & Oates staple. Change of Season was a more mainstream-rock album than their previous work. Despite the fact that Ooh Yeah! and Change of Season went platinum and gold, they were perceived as disappointments.

Later work

The duo's occasional songwriting collaborator, Janna Allen (sister of Sara), died of leukemia in 1993. Hall & Oates released the Marigold Sky album in 1997 (their first all-new studio album in seven years), which included an adult contemporary hit "Promise Ain't Enough". They also released a "VH1 Behind the Music" Greatest Hits package shortly after appearing on the show in 2002.

At the same time, Daryl and Sara, professional/personal collaborators, broke off their romantic relationship after some three decades. Their friendship is still apparently strong; he has noted her help in the recovery from his 2005 attack of Lyme disease.

Daryl Hall & John Oates put out the Do It for Love album in 2003. That included "Do It for Love" (a number-one Adult Contemporary hit). They have also released the Hall & Oates Live DVD from an A&E Live by Request special. This album was the first album and first success for their newest joint venture, U-Watch Records.

Daryl Hall has also released a third and fourth solo album called Soul Alone (1993) and Can't Stop Dreaming (originally released in Japan 1996), and a live 2 CD solo album called Live in Philadelphia (2004).

John Oates released his own solo album in 2002 entitled Phunk Shui and a companion .

Hall & Oates have also put out their first CD of (mostly) covers, Our Kind of Soul, in 2004. It includes some of their favorite R&B songs, such as "I'll Be Around", "Love TKO", "I Can Dream About You", and more. Hall & Oates are still on the touring circuit, traveling as much as they did several years ago. In addition, a DVD of live performances of the songs from Our Kind of Soul was released in November 2005.

Daryl & John released a Christmas album, Home For Christmas on October 3rd, 2006 which contains 2 holiday originals and covers. It includes a version of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear", which became their second number one Adult Contemporary hit. ^[1]

Trivia and legacy

While much of the duo's reputation is due to its sustained pop-chart run in the 1980s, Hall & Oates are also respected for their ability to cross style boundaries. To this day, "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is one of the most-sampled songs by R&B and hip-hop groups over the last twenty-five years, being referenced by acts from Heavy D & the Boyz to Tamia to 2 Live Crew.

De La Soul sampled "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" for the track "Say No Go," from their 1988 debut album Three Feet High and Rising, the title of which is one of Hall's vocal hooks from the hit song. Hall & Oates liked it so much that they replicated the De La Soul arrangement in their live 1990 performance at the U.S. Earth Day twentieth anniversary concert in New York's Central Park.

"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is also heavily sampled in the 2003 hit "Sunrise" by the UK act Simply Red. The song also includes original lyrics from "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" placed at the chorus and sung by a female singer.

Rapper Plan B uses the chorus of I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) in his song Mama (Loves A Crackhead).

The St. Louis Blues had a line in the early 1990s nickname "Hull and Oates" after forwards Brett Hull and Adam Oates.

The song was sampled in a one time collaboration performance by John Mayer and Just Blaze called Alife.

Fun Lovin' Criminals sampled a portion of the beat from "One on One" for their song "Sugar", off their 1998 album "100% Colombian".

The hook of the song "Method Man", from the Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 album, , copies the refrain of Hall and Oates' "Method of Modern Love" ("The M-E-T-H-O-D...Man").

Kanye West sampled the song "Grounds for Separation" twice -- once for Rhymefest for his song "Fight with the Best" and once for Jagged Edge for the remix of their song "Let's Get Married". (West did not appear on the Jagged Edge remix.)

The Private Eyes title track, with its catchy hand-clap chorus, was the topic of a 2003 episode of the VH1 show I Love the 80's, with several artists remembering the single and the duo fondly. Another track from the album, the arena-rocker "Head Above Water", has been used in TV advertisements for the New York Aquarium on Coney Island.

In 2004, a dance act called Uniting Nations sampled Hall and Oates hit "Out of Touch". The song, also called "Out of Touch", achieved success across Europe and had a long UK chart run which spanned over several months. The song has also been remixed to less popularity by the smaller dance acts Playaz and Up Top.

In 2005 G-Unit hip-hop artist Tony Yayo sampled Hall and Oates on the song "Tattle Teller".

Rap group Young Gunz of Roca-fella Records sampled "Rich Girl" for a song of the same name on their debut album.

The duo appeared in an episode of NBC's Will & Grace ("The Definition of Marriage") initially aired on February 9, 2006.

In the mid 80's, the duo's song "One on One" -- with its clever references of romance and basketball -- was used in NBA commercials.

In 2002, their hit song "Out of Touch" was used for the soundtrack in the successful video game , playing on the pop radio station Flash FM. In 2006, their song "Family Man" was used for the soundtrack for its prequel, , once again playing on Flash FM.

The song "Rich Girl" was played in an episode of television's cop series Hunter. In the episode a 'rich girl' commits the 'perfect crime' but in the end cannot profit from it because all her family money will only be hers when the 'killer' is apprehended. With no options left, she commits suicide eating yogurt and sleeping pills with the song "Rich Girl" playing.

"Rich Girl" was also in an episode of the FX series, "The Shield", sung briefly by one of the characters in Season 2.

According to Daryl Hall, "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" helped inspire the song "Billie Jean". "Michael Jackson once said directly to me that he hoped I didn't mind that he copied that groove (from "I Can't Go For That"). That's okay; it's something we all do. Eddie Van Halen told me that he copied the synth part from "Kiss on My List" and used it in "Jump". I don't have a problem with that at all."^[2]

Vocals from Hall & Oates classic single "You Make My Dreams" are sampled on R&B singer Amerie's song "Take Control".

Wyclef Jean sings part of "Maneater" in the song "Dangerous" by the Ying Yang Twins. During the chorus, Jean sings, "Oooh here she comes. Watch out boys, she'll chew you up!"

Super producers Cool and Dre replayed chords sampled from Hall & Oates "Out of Touch" for Young Jeezy's 2006-2007 hit "Streets on Lock."

Cereal restaurant The Cereal Bowl has a menu item named "Hall'n Oats™," which consists of Quaker oatmeal with maple syrup, raisins, dried cranberries, coconut, and walnuts.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers refer to Hall and Oats in their song "Nevermind" from the album "Freaky Styley".

American Pop Rock band Mêlée (band) included a cover version of "You Make My Dreams" on their album "Devil's & Angels".

Hall and Oates are featured in British spoof TV programmes "Brasseye", where lord Seb Coe is duped into branding them as a peadophile that keeps changing his appearance

Summary Biography of Daryl Hall & John Oates

Forty years after they first met in Philadelphia -- and twenty years after they became the single most successful duo of all time -- Daryl Hall & John Oates continue to record and perform together their distinctive and enduring blend of soulful sounds. Starting out as two devoted disciples of earlier soul greats, Hall & 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 & 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”.

Daryl Hall & John Oates first met back at Philadedelphia's Adelphi Ballroom in 1967. Both were attending Temple University, but they first discovered their shared passion for soul music during a show at which both of their groups -- The Temptones and The Masters, respectively -- were on a record hop bill with a number of then nationally known soul acts like the 5 Stairsteps and Howard Tate. When a gang fight broke out inside the Ballroom, the pair met each other in a service elevator while trying to get out.

Hall had already become a fixture in the Philly soul scene, recording a single with Kenny Gamble and the Romeos featuring future Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell. Hall – now considered one of the great soul singers of his generation -- became a protégé of the Temptations at the young age of 17. Oates too had performed with a number of R&B and doo-wop groups on the Philadelphia scene, and recorded a single with famed Philly soul arranger Bobby Martin. In the early 1970’s Hall & Oates began performing as a duo, and a year later -- with the help of manager Tommy Mottola -- they signed to the legendary soul label Atlantic Records.

The group’s major label debut Whole Oats -- produced by legendary producer Arif Mardin who had already worked with The Rascals and Dusty Springfield -- combined the group’s soul and folk influences, but failed to make a significant commercial impact. That breakthrough would come with the duo’s following effort, 1973’s Abandoned Luncheonette, still considered one of the group’s finest albums by many of their admirers. Abandoned Luncheonette’s acoustic soul sound was groundbreaking and widely acclaimed, and the album’s stunning standout track “She’s Gone” would become a #1 R&B smash on the Billboard Magazine charts for Tavares in 1974, and eventually become a pop hit for Hall & Oates when it was re-released in 1976.

Hall & Oates took a rather dramatic turn with their third album, 1974’s War Babies, a rockier and more experimental song cycle recorded with producer Todd Rundgren. Leaving Atlantic, Hall & Oates signed with RCA Records and in 1975 released the Daryl Hall and John Oates (also unofficially known to fans as The Silver Album) which yielded the duo’s first critical and commercial smash “Sara Smile” .The group’s 1976 follow- up Bigger Than Both Of Us yielded the infectious “Rich Girl,” the group’s first #1 on the Pop Singles chart, and a track that once again artfully combining their rock and soul influences into a cohesive whole.

The group continued to experiment and expand their rock n’ soul sound with ambitious albums like 1978’s Along The Red Ledge (with David Foster as producer) and 1979’s X-Static. During that same period, Hall recorded and released on RCA his critically acclaimed first solo album Sacred Songs with experimental guitar innovator Robert Fripp. In 1980, Hall & Oates’ released the Voices album which would prove a true watershed moment in their illustrious career. Producing themselves for the first time, Hall & Oates created the template for a brightly infectious but still soulful sound that would help them become one of the dominant group’s of the Eighties. Voices included the group’s second #1 on the Pop Singles chart, “Kiss On My List,” as well as significant hits in “You Make My Dreams” and a cover of the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.” In addition, “Everytime You Go Away” from the Voices album became a #1 hit in America and around the world when later covered by British soul singer Paul Young in 1985.

1981’s Private Eyes album featured two more #1 hits, the title track and “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) ”and the Top Ten “Did It In A Minute.” This remarkable run continued with 1982’s H2O and more smashes in the form of "Maneater," “Family Man” and “One On One.” Two more hits -- “Say It Isn’t So” and “Adult Education” -- were included on the smash anthology Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1 that was released in 1983. Big Bam Boom continued the duo’s momentum with the help of another #1 hit, “Out Of Touch.?

Having achieved so much together -- including appearing on the “We Are the World” recording session, at Live Aid and performing and recording at the Apollo Theater along with former Temptations David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick -- Hall & Oates took a hiatus to focus on individual efforts in the mid-Eighties. Hall recorded and released his second solo effort, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, produced by his now long time friend, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. The album would produce another hit for Hall in “Dreamtime”. The pair would then reunited to record their final 2 albums for Arista Ooh Yeah and Change of Season.

In the past decade, Hall & Oates have toured consistently and with considerable success around the world, and have continued to record both together and separately with impressive results including Hall’s third solo album, Soul Alone. Sensing the change in the business, they abandoned the major labels and released independently Hall’s fourth solo album, Can’t Stop Dreaming and the duo’s 1997’s Marigold Sky –– with both receiving considerable acclaim. Forming their own label, U-Watch Records, 2003’s Do It For Love rightly marked a major return to form with the album being embraced as the group’s finest in many years. It also had considerable commercial success with the passionate title track reaching #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts, while “Forever For You” also hit the Top Ten on the same chart.

Most recently, Hall & Oates saluted their deep soul roots with 2004’s Our Kind Of Soul – an album that found them recording inventive re-workings of some of their favorite soul classics like the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around” and the Four Tops’ “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” as well as three new originals with a decidedly classic soul feel, “Let Love Take Control,” and “Don’t Turn Your Back on Me”. 2004 also saw Hall & Oates’ body of work inducted together into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In 2006, Hall & Oates released their first ever full Christmas album on U-Watch entitled Home For Christmas, a soulful seasonal effort highlighted by a cover of Robbie Robertson's “Christmas Must Be Tonight” and two moving originals-- “No Child Should Ever Cry At Christmas” written by John Oates and the albums title track written by Daryl Hall with Greg Bieck and longtime Hall & Oates player and collaborator T-Bone Wolk. The single “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” became the #1 Holiday song of the 2006 season, The fortieth anniversary of their first meeting finds Daryl Hall & 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.

Members of the Hall & Oates band include

• Charles DeChant
• Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (Musical Director)
• Zev Katz
• Mike Braun
• Eliot Lewis

Past members include

• G.E. Smith
• Paul Pesco
• Mickey Curry
• Jerry Marotta
• David Foster
• Kenny Pasarelli
• Caleb Quaye
• Roger Pope
• David Kent
• John Siegler
• Jeff Catania
• John Korba
• Christopher Bond
• Steve "Fontz" Gelfand
• Bob Mayo

Discography

Main article: Hall & Oates discography

Bibliography

• Laura Fissinger, Hall & Oates (Mankato: Creative Education, 1983).
• Brad Gooch, Hall & Oates: Their Lives and Their Music (1985).
• Nick Tosches, Dangerous Dances: The Authorized Biography (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984).

References

See also

• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

External links

• Official Hall & Oates website
• Hall & Oates Radio
• VH1 VSPOT "Private Eyes"