Daryl Hall and John Oates have split up: the legendary American duo's story ends in court

It's now truly over for the legendary duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. The American duo, responsible for countless hits etched into the collective memory, will stop performing after fifty years together. Daryl Hall confirmed the split to Variety magazine, which came about following a legal dispute sparked by his partner John Oates's attempt to sell his half of Whole Oats Enterprises, the company that controls the Hall & Oates trademark and related rights. A judge had subsequently barred Oates from selling his stake in the company without Hall's permission. The legal feud between the two had escalated to the point that Hall filed a lawsuit against Oates on November 16, along with a motion for a temporary restraining order. The following day, the court officially issued a temporary restraining order effective November 30.

Hall told Variety that the two haven't written a song together in "at least 25 years" and that for some time the only thing they did together was perform live. Meanwhile, the blond American singer has gone back to working with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), with whom he's preparing his sixth solo album.

Recently, Hall, 77, had also downplayed Oates's role, 75, on Bill Maher's podcast "Club Random," saying: "You think John Oates is my partner? He's my business partner. He's not my creative partner." He went on: "John and I are brothers, but we're not creative brothers. We're business partners. We've made records together called Hall & Oates, but we've always been very separate, and that's a really important thing to me."

Daryl Hall & John Oates met in 1967 and formed their duo three years later. In total they released eighteen studio albums, starting with their 1972 debut, "Whole Oats." The legendary pop-R&B duo boasts six No. 1 singles, including "Private Eyes," "Maneater," "Rich Girl" and "Out Of Touch."

At least sixty million records sold overall, a dozen songs worthy of a college course on pop music, a countless number of chart-topping singles, and at least twelve years of a career spent consistently at the top. To paraphrase the title of one of their albums, Daryl Franklin Hohl and John William Oates were, together, truly greater than the sum of their already enormous talent, turning blue-eyed blond soul into an unmissable delight of the American popular imagination.

In 2014 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and two years later they received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Even though both had long since launched solo careers, Hall and Oates kept collaborating over the years, including live shows: their most recent tour dates back a year ago (October 2022), while their last studio album, "Home For Christmas," was released in 2006. Now, though, it's truly over for the Hall & Oates name.

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