Daryl Hall Says He Will Never Again Perform With John Oates: “That Ship Has Gone To Bottom Of Ocean”

Daryl Hall and John Oates’ musical partnership resulted in some of pop’s most enduring tunes – but it seems the chances of them ever teaming up again is somewhere between zero and zero.

The pair have hits to their name including Maneater, I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) and Out of Touch, but their partnership hit an impasse in 2023 when Oates set about selling his stake in their publishing company, and Hall filed a lawsuit to prevent him, calling Oates’ move “the ultimate partnership betrayal.”

Now, in an interview with The Times of London, Hall was asked about the prospect of reuniting with Oates, or had that ship sailed? He replied:

That ship has gone to the bottom of the ocean,” Hall says. “I’ve had a lot of surprises in my life, disappointments, betrayals, so I’m kind of used to it.” And he added: “I’ve been involved with some pretty shady characters over the years. That’s where the problems start.”

The pair met as students and broke through as a performing due in the early 1970s. They went on to sell 60 million records and earn 16 US Top Ten singles at their peak. Of their respective contributions to the project, Hall reported: “The songs with his lead vocal are the songs he wrote, and all the other ones, which is about 90 per cent, are the ones I wrote.”

Hall reflected in The Times interview that he had never succumbed to drug temptations on the road at the height of their success – “they never agreed with me” – but for everything else? “Just watch Spinal Tap.”