Comprised of singer Daryl Hall and guitarist/vocalist John Oates, the middle-of-the-road, Philadelphia-based pop duo Hall and Oates rose to fame in the mid-1970s with emotive ballads like "Sarah Smile" and "She's Gone." Initially dubbed "blue-eyed soul" by some critics, stressing that the twosome was a white act singing "black music," Hall and Oates veered towards a more rock oriented sound at the end of the 1970s, resulting in a slew of platinum singles and albums such as Private Eyes and H20. By 1984, their sales had made them the biggest selling duo in history, replacing the 1960s folk act the Everly Brothers. Despite such success, Hall and Oates parted ways after the phenomenally successful 1984 effort Big Bam Boom. After the breakup, most of the duo's backing musicians went on to form the house band for television's Saturday Night Live, while Hall embarked on a mildly successful solo career, and the thickly mustached Oates remained in relative obscurity until a Hall and Oates reunion in the 1990s.

Further Reading:

Gooch, Brad. Hall and Oates. New York, Ballantine, 1984.

Tosches, Nick. Hall and Oates: Suburban Contemporary: An Authorized Biography. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1984.