Daryl Hall has been granted a restraining order against his former music partner John Oates while in the midst of a confidential legal battle.
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The news of Hall filing a lawsuit against Oates was first reported by Axios Nashville reporter Nate Rau last week (November 17) who tweeted: “Members of the beloved pop rock duo Hall & Oates are locked in mysterious litigation. Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit yesterday against John Oates in Nashville Chancery Court. At least for now, all of the filings in the litigation are under seal.”
He continued: “Based on captions for the filings in the chancery clerk’s system, a business trust is at the center of the dispute.”
Photo of Hall & Oates (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Very little information about the lawsuit is publicly available due to it being sealed. Per Philadelphia magazine, who expanded on the report and linked the lawsuit listing on the Nashville chancery court website, Hall filed an undisclosed complaint against Oates on November 16, as well as a motion for a temporary restraining order. The temporary retraining order was granted by the court and has been ordered to begin on November 30.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock, Hall “sued in his official capacity as trustee of the Daryl Hall Revocable Trust, naming Oates and fellow co-trustees Aimee Oates and Richard Flynn from the John W. Oates TISA Trust as defendants. Summons were issued on November 20, after the proceedings were placed under seal on November 16.”
Per Variety, the Nashville Chancery Court confirmed the lawsuit but did not comment further due to the lawsuit being sealed.
Neither Hall or Oates have spoken about the lawsuit or shared any statement in regards to it.
Daryl Hall and John Oates are known as the musical duo Hall & Oates. The two met in a lift at the Adelphi Ballroom back in 1967. They came together to form Hall & Oats and have released 29 Top 40 hits as well as eight platinum albums. They are known for iconic hits such as ‘I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’, ‘You Make My Dreams’, ‘Maneater’, ‘Rich Girl’, ‘Private Eyes’ and ‘Kiss On My List’.
American rock and soul duo Hall & Oates (American singer-songwriter and musician Daryl Hall, and American singer-songwriter and guitarist John Oates) in a studio portrait, against a blue background, circa 1980. (Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
They have always had a weird relationship. In 1985, Rolling Stone described their relationship as “strange” with journalist Lynn Hirschberg writing Hall and Oates “are a cross between business partners and brothers. Hall doesn’t seem to really like Oates, and Oates seems removed, even distant, from the entire Hall and Oates organization.”
Speaking to The Guardian about their relationship in 2014, Hall said: “We get along just fine. We weren’t — and aren’t — very much alike: we have different interests. But the differences aren’t important, what’s important is what we share — and that’s music.”
Oates said: “Daryl and I are more like brothers than actual friends. We’re very different as people, but we have this incredibly strong musical bond. He is creatively unsatisfied and that drives him forward. He’s very smart, and, in my opinion, has one of the greatest popular voices of all time.”
Elsewhere, back in July, Hall performed at the 2023 BST Hyde Park festival later this summer, as opening support for special guest headliner Billy Joel.
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