In 1967, he met John Oates, also a college student from Temple, and embarked on a 30-odd year creative journey. Signed to Atlantic by Ahmet Ertegun and managed by Tommy Mottola in the early 1970s, Hall & Oates have sold more albums than any other duo in music history. Their second album, Abandoned Luncheonette, produced by Arif Mardin and released in 1973, yielded the single, "She's Gone", which went to #7 in the U.S. Top 10 on re-release in 1976 after reaching #1 on the R&B charts when it was covered by Tavares.
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Hall & Oates would score six U.S. #1 singles, including "Rich Girl" (also #1 R&B), "Kiss on My List", "Private Eyes", "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (also #1 R&B), "Maneater" and "Out of Touch" from their six multi-platinum albums - Bigger Than Both of Us, Voices, Private Eyes, H2O, Rock 'n Soul Part 1 and Big Bam Boom - the last five of which were released consecutively. The era would also produce an additional five U.S. Top 10 singles, "Sara Smile", "One on One", "Family Man," "You Make My Dreams", "Say It Isn't So" and "Method of Modern Love".
In addition to his work with Oates, Hall has made music as a solo artist as well as recording with Robert Fripp in the late ‘70s, working on Fripp’s critically praised, Exposure album from 1979. 1977 Fripp produced and performed on Hall's debut solo album, the much-acclaimed Sacred Songs. This album was released 1980.
In 1984, he co-wrote and produced, with Arthur Baker, the single Swept Away for Diana Ross, which reached US #19, US R & B #3 and US Dance/Club Play #1.
In 1985, Hall participated in the We Are the World session as well as closing the Live Aid show in Philadelphia. He also made an album with Dave Stewart that year, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine. He has recorded such solo works as Soul Alone in 1993 and Can't Stop Dreaming in 1996, both of which were received well internationally.
Sacred Songs is Darly Hall's first solo album. It was produced by guitarist Robert Fripp, who also played on the album. The album was recorded in 1977 but Hall's label, RCA, did not release it for three years. According to Nick Tosches, who wrote Dangerous Dances, the authorized biography of Hall & Oates, "RCA refused to release Sacred Songs on the grounds that it wasn't commercial."
Very proud of the results, Fripp and Hall gave the album to RCA officials. Though still relatively pop-oriented, Sacred Songs was very different from Hall & Oates, and fearing the album might be unsuccessful and alienate Hall's mainstream fans, the company shelved the record, and release was postponed indefinitely.
Outraged, Hall and Fripp passed tapes of Sacred Songs to music journalists and disc jockeys. Tosches notes that a groundswell of interest was generated inside the music profession and from Hall's fans with a letter-writing campaign directed at RCA requesting the album's release. Upon release, Sacred Songs sold fairly well, peaking at #58 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart however, there was no hit single from the record. It has since come to be regarded as a high point in the careers of both Hall and Fripp.
Here is I'm In A Philly Mood from Sacred Songs:
In 2004, Daryl Hall was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and since 2007, he has hosted the web television series, Live From Daryl's House.
Speaking of his reasons for starting the Live From Daryl's House webcast, in June 2008 Hall told noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul: "For me it was sort of an obvious thing. I've been touring my whole adult life really, and, you know, you can't be EVERYWHERE! Nor do I WANT to be everywhere at this point! I only like to spend so much time per year on the road. So I thought 'Why don't I just do something where anyone who wants to see me anywhere in the world CAN?! And, instead of doing the artist/audience performance-type thing, I wanted to deconstruct it and make the audience more of a fly-on-the-wall kind of observer... I mean, what I've always done onstage is very natural. I talk to the audience and it's a very sitting-roomy kind of thing. So I just thought I'd basically bring that to the web." -Source: Wikipedia
Explore at: http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/
Happy Birthday to Daryl Hall - A Bit Of Groovy!
