Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and backing vocals.

Six of these peaked at number one: "Rich Girl" (1977), "Kiss on My List" (1980), the two 1981 releases "Private Eyes", and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (also a Hot Soul No.

Their overall 16 US Top Tens also include "She's Gone", "Sara Smile", "You Make My Dreams", "Family Man", "Say It Isn't So", and "Method of Modern Love".

[6] While the duo had employed a wide variety of session musicians on their recordings, several in particular appear on many of their works and have toured with them, including guitarist G. E. Smith, bassist Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, drummer Mickey Curry and multi-instrumentalist Charles DeChant.

[11] Early in their recording careers, Hall and Oates had trouble clearly defining their sound, alternating among folk, soul, rock and pop.

Another Abandoned Luncheonette single, "Las Vegas Turnaround", was written about (and mentioned by first name) Hall's girlfriend, flight attendant and future song-writing collaborator Sara Allen.

Despite touring constantly and recording albums with efficiency, the duo could not find any pop success for a number of reasons, mainly because of the popularity of the disco genre.

However, after being presented with the highly experimental recording, produced by Robert Fripp of King Crimson, RCA became unwilling to release what was, in their view, a non-commercial album.

The pair felt that the biggest hindrance to their success was that their music was being filtered through outside producers, and that studio musicians were not familiar with their own tastes and thoughts.

In 1979, they hired G. E. Smith (who had worked with Dan Hartman and David Bowie) as lead guitarist, Mickey Curry as drummer, and Tom "T-Bone" Wolk joined as bassist in 1981.

The resulting album, Voices, was written, produced and arranged by Hall and Oates in one month, according to their authorized biography Dangerous Dances (by Nick Tosches).

[citation needed] The other well-known song from Voices is the emotive ballad "Everytime You Go Away", with powerful lead vocals by Hall, who wrote it.

[citation needed] By the time "You Make My Dreams" was falling off the charts, Hall and Oates had already released their follow-up album Private Eyes.

Having worked in the studio while Voices was at its peak in popularity, the two had already recorded most of their material and perfected a fusion of their doo-wop and soul roots with New Wave energy and hard rock grit.

Daryl Hall – NME – November 1982[26]According to Oates, they recorded approximately twenty songs for the album, of which nine did not make the final cut.

Drummer Mickey Curry, who had appeared on some Private Eyes tracks, including the title song, replaced Jerry Marotta full-time.

[citation needed] The first single released from this album, "Say It Isn't So", battled six weeks for the Number 1 spot with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson's "Say Say Say" at the peak of Thriller mania.

[28] Hall and Oates's follow-up single "Adult Education" received heavy airplay at both pop and black (urban contemporary) radio, and reached Number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1984.

[citation needed] Hall and Oates returned to the studio in 1984 after a rest period to begin work on the Big Bam Boom album.

This album had even more of an electronic, urban feel to it than H2O, combining their song structure and vocalization with the latest technical advances in recording and playing.

[citation needed] The album employed some of the most sophisticated equipment ever used in the recording industry at the time (most notably the Synclavier II, one of the first computerized synthesizer workstations, as well as the Fairlight CMI).

[citation needed] Live at the Apollo was released primarily to fulfill the duo's contract with RCA, and contained a Top 20 Grammy-nominated hit with a medley of "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "My Girl";[29] Ruffin and Kendrick had originally recorded both songs with the Temptations in 1964.

Hall and Oates had collaborated on the USA for Africa "We Are the World" project, with the former as one of the soloists and the latter as a chorus member, and performed at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, with Ruffin and Kendrick.

[citation needed] In 1986, Hall scored a Top 5 US hit with "Dreamtime", from his solo album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine.

Oates also worked as producer, co-songwriter and co-lead vocalist of the single "Love Is Fire" by The Parachute Club, which was a top 40 hit in Canada in 1987.

Their first album for the label, Ooh Yeah!, included the hits "Everything Your Heart Desires"[16] (Number 3 in May 1988—their last to make the Top 10), "Missed Opportunity", and "Downtown Life".

Beginning with Ooh Yeah!, album and single releases were credited as Daryl Hall John Oates, with the '&' or 'and' missing between the duo's names.

The album's first single "So Close" (co-produced by Jon Bon Jovi) reached Number 11 and was Hall & Oates's last major hit.

"[citation needed] Oates released his own solo album in 2002 entitled Phunk Shui and a companion live concert DVD.

[45] Hall started his monthly web series Live from Daryl's House[46] in 2007 after having the idea of "playing with my friends and putting it up on the Internet".