Daryl Hall and John Oates met and began performing together in doo-wop groups while attending Philadelphia’s Temple University in the late 1960s. They parted ways briefly, during which time Hall formed the rock band Gulliver, which disbanded after releasing one album in 1969. The pair teamed up again in 1970 and was signed by Atlantic Records in 1972. Their first two albums, the folk-oriented Whole Oates (1972) and the R&B-oriented Abandoned Luncheonette (1973), didn’t sell well, although the second album contained the song "She’s Gone," which became a hit in 1975 when it was re-released following the success of their fourth album, Daryl Hall John Oates. In 1976 Hall and Oates released Bigger Than the Both of Us, which was propelled to platinum status by the No. 1 hit "Rich Girl." After their next two albums (Along the Red Ledge in ’78 and X-Static in ’79) failed to reach the same level of commercial success, they decided to produce 1980’s Voices themselves. The platinum-selling album contained the hits "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling," "Kiss on My List" and "You Make My Dreams." Private Eyes followed in 1981, yielding the No. 1 hits "Private Eyes" and "I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)," and H2O, released in ’82, went double platinum on the strength of the hit singles "Maneater" and "Family Man." Throughout the rest of the’80s, the duo continued to score Top 10 hits, while Hall pursued his moderately successful solo career, releasing Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine in 1986. A comeback album released in 1997, Marigold Sky, and another in 2003, Do It for Love, produced singles that landed on the adult-contemporary chart.

Reviews

• Our Kind of Soul
• Do It for Love