Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Hall & Oates, with guitarist and songwriter John Oates. Outside of his work in Hall & Oates, he has also released five solo albums, including the 1980 progressive rock collaboration with guitarist Robert Fripp titled Sacred Songs and the 1986 album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, which provided his best selling single, "Dreamtime", that peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also collaborated on numerous works by other artists, such as Fripp's 1979 release Exposure, and Dusty Springfield's 1995 album A Very Fine Love, which produced a UK Top 40 hit with "Wherever Would I Be". Since late 2007, he has hosted the streaming television series Live from Daryl's House, in which he performs alongside other artists, doing a mix of songs from each's catalog. The show has been rebroadcast on a number of cable and satellite channels as well.
Hall was born in Pottstown, a Pennsylvaniaborough40 miles (64km) from Philadelphia; his family is of German descent.[5] Both of his parents had a background in music; his father came from a choral-group clan and his mother was a vocal coach.[6] He began recording music while a student at Owen J. Roberts High School, from which he graduated in 1964.
At college at Temple University in Philadelphia, he majored in music, while continuing to record. He worked with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff as both an artist and a session musician. During his first semester at Temple, in the fall of 1965, he and four other Temple University students formed the vocal harmony group the Temptones.
They were popular additions to the largely black Philly soul scene, defeating both The Ambassadors and The Delfonics in a contest at the Uptown Theater.[7] The Temptones recorded a handful of singles for Arctic Records, produced by Jimmy Bishop. While performing at the Uptown Theater, Hall formed creative affiliations with artists including Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, and many other top soul singers of the 1960s.
In 1967, Hall met John Oates, who was also an undergraduate at Temple University. According to Daryl Hall, they met when "We got in the middle of a fight at a dance–I have no idea what the fight was about. I guess the Greek letters on one gang's jackets didn't appeal to the other gang. We both beat it out the back and met on the elevator while leaving the place rather quickly." Hall was by then a senior while Oates was a freshman. They played together until Oates transferred to a different school at age 19. Hall did not let Oates' departure discourage him from pursuing his own musical career: he dropped out of college in 1968 and worked with Tim Moore in a short-lived rock band, Gulliver, and released an album on the Elektra Records label. He was a member of the studio group behind the project Electric Indian whose song "Keem-O-Sabe" became a big hit in 1969. In 1969 Hall again began recording songs by other artists, which led to the duo Hall & Oates signing their first record contract in early 1972.
Signed to Atlantic by Ahmet Ertegun and managed by Tommy Mottola in the early 1970s, Daryl Hall and John Oates have sold more albums than any other duo in music history.[8] Their second album, Abandoned Luncheonette, produced by Arif Mardin and released in 1973, yielded the single "She's Gone", which went to No.7 in the U.S. Top 10 on re-release in 1976 after reaching No.1 on the R&B charts when it was covered by Tavares. The duo recorded one more album for Atlantic, War Babies (produced by Todd Rundgren), before they were dropped and promptly signed by RCA Records. During their tenure at RCA, the duo catapulted to international superstardom[citation needed].
In November 2023, Daryl Hall sued John Oates and filed a temporary restraining order against him, for initially undisclosed reasons.[10] The following week, Hall filed a declaration accusing Oates of "the ultimate partnership betrayal" for planning to sell his share of the duo's publishing to Primary Wave Music. Oates responded that Hall's statements were "inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate".[11]
Solo projects
In addition to his work with Oates, Hall recorded music as a solo artist as well as recording with Robert Fripp in the late 1970s, working on Fripp's critically praised Exposure album from 1979. In 1977 Fripp produced and performed on Hall's debut solo album, the much-acclaimed Sacred Songs. This album was released in 1980.
In 2010 Hall was back in the studio working on a solo recording with bassist and musical director T-Bone Wolk. Wolk died of a heart attack on February 28, 2010, hours after completing a session with Hall. Hall released a statement about the death of his bassist of nearly 30 years: "It's not if I will go on, but how? T-Bone was one of the most sensitive and good human beings that I have ever known."[15]
On June 11, 2010, Hall shared the stage with electronic duo Chromeo for a special late night set at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Their set consisted of a mix of both Hall & Oates and Chromeo tracks.[citation needed]
On September 27, 2011, Hall released the album Laughing Down Crying on Verve Records.
On August 12, 2011, UK Electronic duo Nero released their debut album Welcome Reality, which features guest vocals by Hall on the track "Reaching Out", which also samples Hall & Oates' 1980s hit "Out of Touch". "Reaching Out" was released as the sixth single on December 6, 2011.[citation needed]
Home restoration
Hall restores and preserves historic homes in both the United States and England. In 2008, he purchased the 18th century Bray House, in Kittery Point, Maine[16] and is in the process of restoring it.[17] He also restored a Georgian-style home in London, first built in 1740, with direct waterfront access to the River Thames. He purchased two homes near Hartford, Connecticut–one built in 1771, the other in 1780–and had them moved to the same property in New York's Dutchess County where they were combined and restored.[18] After having the houses moved, he discovered that both homes were coincidentally connected to the same family.[18] He has a home in Charleston, South Carolina.
Hall hosted the 2014 television show Daryl's Restoration Over-Hall on the DIY Network, which showed him and a crew working on restoring one of his homes in Connecticut.[19]
In a June 2008 interview with Blues & Soul magazine, Hall said of the webcast, "For me it was sort of an obvious thing. I've been touring my whole adult life really, and, you know, you can't be EVERYWHERE! Nor do I WANT to be everywhere at this point! I only like to spend so much time per year on the road. So I thought 'Why don't I just do something where anyone who wants to see me anywhere in the world CAN?! And, instead of doing the artist/audience performance-type thing, I wanted to deconstruct it and make the audience more of a fly-on-the-wall kind of observer... I mean, what I've always done onstage is very natural. I talk to the audience and it's a very sitting-roomy kind of thing. So I just thought I'd basically bring that to the web."[20]
Hall hosted WGN America's 2010 New Year's Eve coverage as a Live from Daryl's House special. The special featured clips of previous episodes. Steve Dahl, a Chicago radio host, praised the special as the best New Year's Eve special on television for 2010–11, though he criticized the show's lack of a live countdown to midnight.[21]
In July 2018, BMG partnered with Hall and Jonathan Wolfson to secure worldwide rights for Live from Daryl's House and will begin producing new segments beginning that fall, the company announced. The agreement includes worldwide rights to the complete run of 82 episodes filmed from 2007 to 2016, and the company is seeking distribution partners for the new episodes.
Hall was married to Bryna Lublin from 1969 to 1972. He converted to Lublin's religion, Judaism, in order to marry her. He has not actively participated in religion since that time but he said that he feels more of a connection to Judaism than to his original affiliation, Methodism.[23] While Hall admits to having had a passing interest in the ideas of English occultist, ceremonial magician, artist, and writer Aleister Crowley, he does not consider Thelema (Crowley's religion) to be his faith.[24]
Hall had a nearly 30-year relationship with songwriter Sara Allen. She was the inspiration for the song "Sara Smile"[25] and a frequent collaborator with Hall & Oates. They broke up in 2001 for undisclosed reasons and were never married but have remained friends (Allen briefly appears in a May 2016 episode of Live from Daryl's House). According to interviews with Hall and Allen in the VH1 Behind the Music documentary about Hall & Oates, their breakup was partially due to the death of Janna Allen at age 36 from leukemia. Janna Allen was a close musical collaborator and Sara Allen's sister.
Hall has one biological child named Darren with Andrea Zabloski who is from Duluth, Minnesota. According to Hall, he and his son are not close.[26][27]
Hall was married to Amanda Aspinall, daughter of British gambling mogul John Aspinall, from 2009 to 2015. Aspinall had two children from a previous relationship; her daughter March sang backing vocals on songs "Save Me", "Message to Ya", and "Eyes for You" on Hall's 2011 album, Laughing Down Crying.[28] Amanda Aspinall died in January 2019.[29]
"Do It For Love" (written with John Oates) and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (by Edmund Hamilton Sears & Richard Storrs Willis) topped the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. "Everytime You Go Away", written by Hall and featured on the Hall & Oates album Voices, reached No. 1 in the US and Canada in 1985 when covered by Paul Young.
Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily played the electric guitar and provided backing vocals. The two wrote most of the songs they performed, either separately or in collaboration. They achieved their greatest fame from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s with a fusion of rock and roll, soul music, and rhythm and blues.
John William Oates is an American musician, best known as half of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates along with Daryl Hall. He has played rock, R&B, and soul music, serving as a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer.
"Kiss on My List" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates. It was written by Daryl Hall and Janna Allen, and produced by Hall and John Oates. It was the third single release from their ninth studio album, Voices (1980), and became their second US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single. It spent three weeks at the top spot.
"Maneater" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates, featured on their eleventh studio album, H2O (1982). It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 18, 1982. It remained in the top spot for four weeks, longer than any of the duo's five other number-one hits, including "Kiss on My List", which remained in the top spot for three weeks.
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates. Written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, the song was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, Private Eyes (1981). The song became the fourth number one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100. It features Charles DeChant on saxophone.
Private Eyes is the tenth studio album by American pop rock duo Hall & Oates, released on September 1, 1981, by RCA Records. The album includes two number-one singles—the title track and "I Can't Go for That ", as well as the top-10 single "Did It in a Minute". "I Can't Go for That " also spent a week at the top of the R&B chart.
Sacred Songs is American singer/songwriter Daryl Hall's first solo album. It was produced by guitarist Robert Fripp, who also played on the album.
Janna Allen was an American songwriter. She is best known as a co-writer of some of the biggest hits recorded by Hall & Oates, in collaboration variously with Daryl Hall, John Oates and her sister Sara Allen, who was Hall's longtime girlfriend and the person for whom the duo's hit song "Sara Smile" was written.
Ooh Yeah! is the thirteenth studio album by American pop rock duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, released on April 28, 1988. It was their first studio release in four years and their first with Arista Records. Though the album went platinum in the United States and produced a No. 3 entry with the single "Everything Your Heart Desires", as well as the singles "Missed Opportunity" and "Downtown Life" reaching number 29 and 31 respectively, it charted lower, and sold fewer copies than the band's previous albums. Ooh Yeah! is the last Hall & Oates album with Janna Allen contributing to the writing team. She died in 1993 of leukemia.
Big Bam Boom is the twelfth studio album by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, released by RCA Records on October 12, 1984. It marked the end of one of the most successful album runs by a duo of the 1980s. RCA issued a remastered version in July 2004 with four bonus tracks. The lead single "Out of Touch" was a #1 pop hit, and charted in several other areas. Another song taken from the album, the Daryl Hall and Janna Allen-penned "Method of Modern Love" reached a high point of #5, and "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid," reached #18.
Rock 'n Soul Part 1 is a greatest hits album by American musical duo Hall & Oates, credited as "Daryl Hall John Oates" on the album cover. Released by RCA Records on October 18, 1983, the album featured mostly hit singles recorded by the duo and released by RCA, along with one single from the duo's period with Atlantic Records and two previously unreleased songs recorded earlier in the year: "Say It Isn't So" and "Adult Education".
Daryl Hall & John Oates is the fourth studio album by American pop music duo Hall & Oates. The album was released on August 18, 1975, by RCA Records. It is sometimes referred to as The Silver Album because of its metallic-foil cover. The album spawned three singles: "Camellia", "Alone Too Long" and "Sara Smile". "Sara Smile" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the duo's first top 40 and first top ten hit.
"Say It Isn't So" is a song performed by American pop rock duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, and written by Daryl Hall. It was released by RCA Records in October 1983 as the first of two new singles from their compilation album Rock 'n Soul Part 1, released that same year. The song was remixed as a "special extended dance mix" by John "Jellybean" Benitez, which topped Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, behind coincidentally "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.
"Sara Smile" is a song written and recorded by the American musical duo Hall & Oates. It was released as the third single from their album Daryl Hall & John Oates. The song was the group's first top 40 and first top ten hit in the US, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Private Eyes" is a 1981 single by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and the title track from their album of the same name. The song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from November 7 through November 20, 1981. This single was the band's third of six number one hits, and their second number one hit of the 1980s. It was succeeded in the number one position by Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," which was coincidentally succeeded by another single from Hall & Oates, "I Can't Go for That ".
"Family Man" is a pop rock song written by Mike Oldfield, Tim Cross, Rick Fenn, Mike Frye, Morris Pert, and Maggie Reilly. It became a hit song in 1982 for Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly as the vocalist. Hall & Oates achieved success a year later with their cover version. In 2009, Maggie Reilly recorded another version of the song for her solo studio album Looking Back Moving Forward.
"She's Gone" is a song written and originally performed by the American duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. The soul ballad is included on their 1973 album, Abandoned Luncheonette.
Sara Allen is an American songwriter best known for her work with the duo Hall & Oates. She was in a long-term relationship with Daryl Hall, from the 1970s to 2001. Allen contributed to many of the duo's hit singles, including "You Make My Dreams", "Private Eyes", "I Can't Go for That " and "Maneater".
"Did It in a Minute" is a song performed by American duo Hall & Oates. Written by Daryl Hall with Sara and Janna Allen, the song was released as the third of four singles from the duo's tenth studio album Private Eyes in March 1982. Daryl Hall performs lead vocals, while John Oates provides backing harmony vocals.
Looking Back – The Best of Daryl Hall + John Oates is a compilation album by American pop rock duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. It was released in 1991. It contains tracks from ten Hall & Oates albums spanning 1973's Abandoned Luncheonette to 1990's Change of Season.
References
↑ Bogdanov, Vladimir (editor). (2003) All music guide to soul: the definitive guide to R&B and soul Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN978-0-87930-744-8, p. 292.
↑ Fripp, Robert. Notes for Exposure 2006 two-CD reissue.
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