New details revealed in Hall + Oates lawsuit

Daryl Hall is suing Hall + Oates bandmate John Oates over his plans to sell off his share of a joint venture.

The 77-year-old singer is embroiled in a legal battle against his former musical partner after filing a complaint on November 16, as well as a motion for a temporary restraining order.

While most of the details of the case have been sealed, Hall is aiming to prevent Oates selling his share of Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC until an arbitrator in a separately filed case is consulted.

Primary Wave has already owned “significant interest” in Hall and Oates’ music for more than 15 years.

According to the lawsuit, Hall opened an arbitration process on November 9 against Oates and the other defendants in the lawsuit, Oates’ wife, Aimee Oates, and Richard Flynn, in their roles as co-trustees of Oates’ trust.

Hall was asking for an order to preventing them from selling their part in Whole Oats Enterprises to Primary Wave Music.

The lawsuit alleges Oates’ team entered into a letter of intent with Primary Wave Music for the sale, and claims that their business agreement was disclosed to Primary Wave Music in violation of a confidentiality provision.

The case will be taken up at a November 30 court hearing.

The duo met in 1967 and began their musical collaboration three years later, releasing 18 studio albums since their 1972 debut LP ‘Whole Oats’ and have had six number one singles.

They last toured together in October 2022 but Daryl stressed he is currently more interested in “pursuing [his] own world”.

He told the Los Angeles Times: “I don’t have any plans to work with John. I mean, whatever. Time will tell.

“Perceptions changed, life changed, everything changed.

“I’m more interested in pursuing my own world. And so is John.

“That takes me back to what I was saying about duos. I couldn’t just say what I think, I had to add what he thinks.”