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John Oates was born in New York City on this date in 1948. The celebrated singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is most famous for being one half of the legendary duo,
Hall & Oates, along with Daryl Hall. Oates had a hand in writing a number of Hall & Oates’ Top 10 hits including “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone,” “Out of Touch,” “You Make My Dreams”, “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” “Maneater” and more.
While Oates already had a single, “I Need Your Love,” with his band The Masters under his belt by the time he was 18, the dangerously fortuitous meeting between Daryl Hall and John Oates took place while both were attending Temple University in Philadelphia. As Daryl Hall tells the story, Oates’ The Masters and Hall’s The Temptones were playing a battle of the bands in 1967 at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia. Gunfire rang out between rival gangs and the two musicians took shelter together in a service elevator.