They’ve lost — or never had — that lovin’ feeling.
Daryl Hall’s lawsuit against music partner John Oates could have shocked fans, however the pair have made it clear through the years that they aren’t best friends — to place it mildly.
“John and I are brothers, but we will not be creative brothers,” Hall declared during an interview on the “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast in December 2022.
“We’re business partners. We made records called Hall & Oates together, but we’ve all the time been very separate, and that’s a extremely vital thing for me,” he added.
The musician also implied that he did many of the work, noting that their 1980 song “Kiss on My List” doesn’t list Oates as a songwriter.
Earlier this month, Hall and his organization, the Daryl Hall Revocable Trust, filed a lawsuit against Oates and Oates’ trust, the John W. Oates TISA Trust and its co-trustees in Davidson County Chancery Court.
Moreover, the court issued a brief restraining order to start Nov. 30.
The documents, which were filed on Nov. 16 in Nashville, Tennessee, are labeled as regarding a “contract/debt” suit and are currently sealed. Nevertheless, a source told TMZ that the legal battle pertains to “the bottom rules of who can sing what as a solo artist, together with money issues after all.”
Oates performed a series of solo shows earlier this month, while Hall reportedly sang a few of their songs on the Tokyo Garden Theater in Japan on Nov. 23.
The group was formed after the pair met as undergrads at Temple University in Philadelphia. In 2003, they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, they usually were officially sworn into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
A few of their biggest hits include “Wealthy Girl,” “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”
Ahead of their 2017 tour, they sat down with “CBS Sunday Morning” for an interview.
“Did I believe that I’d be working with John and we’d be sitting side-by-side all these years later?” Hall said on the time. “No, it didn’t even occur to me.”
Oates added: “Our job is the job that everybody dreams of. Play instruments, sing, write music, make records. Why would you wanna quit?”
“If you happen to look on every album we’ve ever made, it says, ‘Daryl Hall and John Oates,’” Oates noted. “Now, it could appear a subtle distinction. But we’ve all the time checked out ourselves as two individuals who’re distinctly different, who work together. And to this present day, that’s how we view ourselves.”
In 2020, they’d go on to play together at a sold-out show in Madison Square Garden in Latest York and speak with The Post head of the concert — individually.
“No. John and I never fight,” Hall told The Post’s Chuck Arnold when asked in the event that they ever argued over a song. “We’ve never had an actual fight since we’ve known one another — and that’s since we were kids, teenagers. We just know to take care of one another. That’s why we’re still together.”
Oates, for his part, added in his own interview: “The indisputable fact that Daryl and I are still friends, that he and I still get along — it’s a miracle. But we do.”