Hall v. Oates, No Longer a Mystery, arrives in court in Nashville

The nature of the dispute between Daryl Hall and John Oates, which had been hidden in sealed court documents, became clearer Thursday as one of pop music’s most recognizable and long-running duos took their fight to a Nashville judge.

Details about the collapse of the 50-year artistic and business partnership between the two had been percolating for days in court documents filed before Thursday’s hearing in Chancery Court, where Hall and Oates were represented by attorneys but did not appear.

Hall, the lead singer and songwriter of many of the band’s hits, claims that Oates breached their contract by selling his share of one of their business partnerships without Hall’s approval.

Hall’s lawyers went to court to block any sale while their business dispute goes through a separate arbitration process. On Thursday, Chancellor Russell T. Perkins granted their request, preventing Oates from moving forward in the agreement until the arbitrator resolves the impasse, or until Feb. 17.

What is clear from the court documents released so far is that the lawsuit is a byproduct of a dramatic, months-long uncoupling of the two musicians, who rose to fame in the 1970s and established themselves as pop icons with hits like “Rich Girl” and “ Maneater.”

In newspapers earlier this month, Hall, 77, wrote that Oates, 75, had become “hostile and aggressive” toward him in recent years and had raised a series of business disputes through a “rotating cast of lawyers.” Hall wrote that Oates late last year asked to dissolve the duo’s touring entity and the business partnership that oversees their music publishing, prompting them to enter mediation last summer — a process in which a neutral referee helps two parties settle their differences beyond their to work out boundaries. court.

But in October, Oates’ side informed Hall that Oates planned to sell his share of a joint venture that oversees certain trademark and music rights. The buyer was identified as Primary Wave Music, a New York company that specializes in estate marketing and song catalogs. Hall wrote that he felt blindsided by the plans.

“I am deeply troubled by the deterioration of my relationship with and trust in John Oates,” he wrote in a lawsuit, calling Oates’ actions the “ultimate partnership betrayal.”

During Thursday’s hearing, Tim Warnock, an attorney for Oates, denied that his client made a deal behind Hall’s back. “Mr. Oates acted exactly as he was allowed to do,” he said. “Mr. Hall himself could have done exactly the same thing.’

Lawyers for Oates have argued that the dispute should be resolved through arbitration, arguing that Hall created the time pressure on himself by waiting nearly three weeks before submitting the case to arbitrators.

“Any adverse effect based on the passage of time is a problem of plaintiffs’ own making,” they wrote.

Hall and Oates’ history together began in 1967, when the middle-aged musicians met while performing at a sock hop in Philadelphia. Hall invited Oates to play guitar for his band, and a few years later they began writing songs together, landing a recording contract in 1972.

From the mid-1970s to 1990, Hall and Oates scored 29 hits on the Top 40 chart, six of which were No. 1 records. Hall and Oates’ hits were heavily influenced by the soul music of Motown and Philadelphia, capturing the highs and lows of romance, from the excitement of ‘You Make My Dreams’ to the wailing break-up song ‘She’s Gone’.

The pair have made 18 studio albums together and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, after seeing a resurgence of interest in their hits as they became favorites for TV, movies and as hip-hop samples. Hall and Oates did not perform together until 2022, but there were hints of disagreement over the past year as the singers maintained separate performance schedules.

The joint venture at the center of the dispute is called Whole Oats Enterprises LLP – a nod to their original group name and the title of their first album.

Hall wrote in court filings that the LLP oversaw trademarks, social media assets and website assets, and said he was concerned that a sale by Oates to Primary Wave would leave his name and likeness vulnerable to exploitation.

Primary Wave calls itself the “home of legends” and has become a frequent buyer of song catalogs and other belongings from famous musicians. It has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years on stakes in the catalogs of Bob Marley, James Brown and Johnny Cash, among others. The company has said it already has a “significant stake” in Hall and Oates’ catalog. acquire in 2007, publishing interests came from songwriters Sara and Janna Allen, who were behind some of the band’s biggest hits.