| Oates received his
early musical education on the accordion before shifting to the guitar. He began doing
sessions for legendary soul producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff after high school, as did
Hall, who was working as a backup singer. The two wound up as street-corner doo-wop
singers. When the pair met in 1968, it was by chance: they were both waiting backstage
with their separate bands Hall's was the Temptones, Oates' the Masters -when someone on
the dance floor was shot. Hall and Oates ducked out in the alley and introduced
themselves. They became roommates at Temple University and began collaborating musically.
"Music was everything to me then," recalls John Oates. "When my song came
on the radio for the first time, that was one of the heaviest things I remember." "Yeah," says Hall, myself on the radio I was making out
with my girlfriend in a basement. And I was heavy into the middle of something deep.
Suddenly, the record came on, and I jumped up and screamed. There was no sex once that
record started." |
Hall and Oates'
first album, Whole Oates, appeared in September 1972. It was folky, and it wasn't popular.
Next was Abandoned Luncheonette, a blend of Philly and Motown R&B. The album was
critically acclaimed, and the song "She's Gone" written about Hall's divorce
from Bryna Lublin, was a mild hit for Hall and Oates, and a Number One hit for the group
Tavares. "That was our first test right there," Oates says. "It would have
been easy to make Abandoned Luncheonette II. That would have set our entire career, but we
didn't do it. And people walked out of our concerts when we didn't." War Babies was the follow-up. Produced by Todd Rundgren, the album
alienated everyone, folk and soul fans alike. Atlantic Records dropped Hall and Oates from
the label. "They didn't know what to do with us:" Oates has said. "And we
didn't know what to do with them." In 1975, they signed with RCA and released the
so-called Silver Album. The record became notable for the hit "Sara Smile" -
written for Hall's longtime girlfriend Sandy (Sara) Allen - and became notorious for the
cover photo, a glitzy shot of Hall and Oates in heavy makeup. As a result of that
photograph, a rumor began to spread: Daryl Hall and John Oates were lovers. |
Daryl Hall and John Oates
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