Daryl Hall gets restraining order against John Oates amid legal battle

Daryl Hall has filed a restraining order against his one-time musical collaborator, John Oates. The pair made up the pop rock duo Hall & Oates, and put out 18 studio albums together between 1972 and 2006.

Hall filed the temporary restraining order request in a Nashville Chancery Court on Nov. 16. Oates and the co-defendants – his wife, Aimee J. Oates, and business manager Richard Flynn, who are both co-trustees of his trust – were served on Nov. 20.

It is unclear what promoted the restraining order, but it is labeled as a Contract/Debt case on the website for the Nashville Chancery Court. CBS News has reached out to Hall's attorney as well as Flynn for further information, and is awaiting a response.

While they put out several hits like "Rich Girl" and "You Make My Dreams Come True" and were nominated for five Grammys together, the duo appears to have grown apart. During an interview on the "Club Random with Bill Maher" last year, Hall said they've "always been very separate."

"John and I are brothers, but we are not creative brothers," Hall said. "We are business partners. We made records called Hall & Oates together, but we've always been very separate, and that's a really important thing for me." Hall also said he did most of the work, citing the duo's 1980 song "Kiss on My List," for which Oates is not labeled as a songwriter, but Hall is.

Hall, 77, and Oates, 75, met while they were freshmen at Temple University. During a 2013 interview with Dan Rather, Hall said they met at a gig. A fight broke out, and they left in the elevator together and struck up a conversation that led to a friendship and musical collaboration.

In 2017, ahead of a tour together, the duo sat down with "CBS Sunday Morning" for an interview. 

"Did I think that I'd be working with John and we'd be sitting side-by-side all these years later?" Hall said. "No, it didn't even occur to me."

"Our job is the job that everyone dreams of," said Oates. "Play instruments, sing, write music, make records. Why would you wanna quit?"

"If you look on every album we've ever made, it says, 'Daryl Hall and John Oates,'" said Oates. "Now, it may seem a subtle distinction. But we've always looked at ourselves as two individuals who are distinctly different, who work together. And to this day, that's how we view ourselves."

In:
• Lawsuit
• Music
• Nashville

Caitlin O'Kane

Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.

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