Music legend John Oates admits fallout with Daryl Hall was ‘ruining my life’ as he defends his decision to try and sell his half of their music catalog but insists ‘I love him like a brother’ despite messy legal battle
Music legend John Oates has admitted he made the decision to try to sell his half of the epic music catalog he shares with Daryl Hall because the fallout is “kind of ruining” his life.
Oates, 76, is currently embroiled in a bitter legal battle with Hall, 77, who filed a lawsuit after his musical partner attempted to sell his stake in the duo’s Whole Oats Enterprises to music publisher Primary Wave Music without Hall’s consent.
Speaking exclusively to Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan, Oates defended his decision to try to part ways with Hall — who filed a restraining order against him in 2023 — explaining, “When this whole situation became mired in legalities and really complex legal arguments, I got frustrated.’
The father-of-one claimed Hall ‘always wanted to be his own man’ and simply wanted to give him ‘the opportunity to do that’, continuing: ‘I said, ‘If I sell my half, he can do what he wants”, it ruined my life a bit, to be honest, I wasn’t happy.
John Oates has admitted he made the decision to try to sell his half of the music catalog he shares with Daryl Hall because the fallout from it “kind of ruined” his life.
Oates sat down for an exclusive interview with Good Morning America to share his side of the story
‘I said, “I’m going to step aside for a moment.” People do it all the time, look at all the artists selling their catalogs, it’s not that big of a deal. Darryl didn’t like the idea of me selling to a particular third party,” he claimed.
When Michael Oates said Hall claimed his planned sale was ‘a complete clandestine and bad faith movement” and “the ultimate partnership betrayal,” Oates responded that he really doesn’t see it that way.
“We’ve always seen ourselves as individuals working together and I felt like I had the right to do that,” he said, before confirming that they haven’t made music in the last 20 years – they’ve just performed their hits. living together.
When asked if they had ever had a falling out before the legal feud, Oates replied, “No, not really. We never really had many disagreements, but we never really talked to each other much either.
“For the past 20 years, we would come to a show individually, walk on stage, play and then go our separate ways. It really wasn’t as tight as people might want to imagine in their fanciful imaginations of our relationship.”
When asked what he would say to Hall if he could send him a message, Oates replied, “I love him like a brother… I love you like a brother, talking to him directly.” But you know what? Brothers have disagreements. Families grow apart.
The music duo had many hit singles in the 1970s and 1980s
Oates told GMA’s Michael Strahan that he thinks Hall has “changed a lot” in recent years
Hall and Oates, pictured performing in July 2017, haven’t made new music together in 20 years
“I would say, I wish him the best, I hope he has everything he wants in life and that he can pursue his dream of becoming a respected solo artist, something I think he always wanted.”
Oates, who had Hall take out a restraining order against him, said he thinks his former musical partner has “changed a lot” and also confirmed whether or not they will ever perform live again.
“Not from my point of view, but you should ask Darryl what he thinks about it,” he told GMA’s Michael.