John Oates Says He And Daryl Hall Are Finished: ‘I’ve Moved On’

Singer-songwriter John Oates has teamed up with partner Daryl Hall for a half century, creating some of the most memorable tunes in the history of pop music.

But according to Oates, their partnership is no more.

No More Hall and Oates

Oates has revealed that the split is due to ongoing litigation between the two.

“You can ask Daryl the same question,” Oates said in a new Rolling Stone interview. “But, yes. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve moved on. I feel like I have a new lease on my creative life.”

This tension became public last November, when Hall filed a lawsuit to block Oates from selling his share in their joint venture to Primary Wave Music, claiming it would violate the terms of their business agreement.

Hall claimed that Oates’ actions “blindsided” him and called them the “ultimate business betrayal.”

Oates claimed that he was “deeply hurt” by Hall’s accusations.

The two had worked as solo artists for years in addition to being a hit-making pair, but Oates said he began to reconsider their relationship during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“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 step back. I had a chance to reevaluate things,” Oates said.

“My wife and I decided it was time to give back. We started the Oates Song Fest for Feeding America, and we fed 350,000 families with that,” he continued. “And then I was asked to do Movember, which was a men’s health movement. I just got out of the mode of getting back on stage with the big band and the big production.”

Oates went on to say that he doesn’t feel any obligation to perform his hits for fans at this point.

“I understand why people come and want to hear the big hits,” he said. “Those songs are going to live forever. But I wanted to relegate them to the classic file that they’re in. And I wanted them to be heard in the best possible light, the way they were when the spark was on fire in the ‘70s and ’80s. That’s when those songs really resonated.”

“To keep playing them, for me, was no longer interesting,” Oates added. “I just wanted to do something else.”

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Can They Get Back Together?

Oates also said that he doesn’t pay much attention to what Hall is up to.

“Really honestly, I don’t follow him on social media,” Oates said. “In fact, I don’t even know what he’s doing. I hope he’s doing well and I hope he’s having a time of his life, but it’s not part of my life.”

Oates did say he was “always open” to mending fences with Hall.

“Daryl Hall is an amazing individual,” Oates said. “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 a different strategy for our lives, and we have a different strategy for our business lives as well as our personal lives. And that’s that, so be it.”

“We’re old guys,” he concluded. “We deserve to be allowed to do whatever we want to do.”

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At the time of this writing, Hall has yet to respond to Oates’ latest comments.