Two Philadelphia students, one shared mailbox, six number ones

A mailbox gave this duo its name. Daryl Hall and John Oates met in 1967 at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia, where each had arrived with his own group: Hall with The Temptones, Oates with The Masters. They were at a band competition, discovered they loved the same music, and found they were both studying at Temple University. Before long they were sharing apartments, and on the mailbox of one of them the words “Hall & Oates” appeared. The nickname stuck, though it took another two years before they became a musical duo.

Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while Oates mostly played electric guitar, sang backing vocals and now and then took a lead. They wrote most of what they performed, alone or together, with sisters Sara Allen and Janna Allen also helping. Guitarist G. E. Smith, bassist Tom “T-Bone” Wolk and drummer Mickey Curry were regular companions. The pair preferred their full names, and credited their US albums to Daryl Hall & John Oates.

Their blend of rock, soul and rhythm and blues made them huge from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. Twenty-nine of their 33 singles reached the Billboard Hot 100, and six went to number one: “Rich Girl”, “Kiss on My List”, “Private Eyes”, “I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)”, “Maneater” and “Out of Touch”. “I Can't Go for That” also topped the soul chart, and in Britain it and “Maneater” both made the Top Ten.

The honours arrived in due course: the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016. They are described as the most successful duo of all time, ahead of the Carpenters, the Everly Brothers and Simon & Garfunkel. The ending was less neat: in 2024 Oates said they would no longer perform together, amid a legal battle between them. The songs, from “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” on down, are not part of that argument.