Hall & Oates Confirm That They Will Never Play Together Again: 'There's No Way…'

The most commercially successful songwriting duo of all time has broken up for good. Daryl Hall and John Oates say they'll never work together again.

The updates over the weekend came after Oates sued Hall for financial and contract disputes last year. Hall then filed a restraining order that prevented Oates from selling his share of the pair's catalog to a company called Primary Wave Music.

Hall confirmed the duo is done during an interview with Variety. "It hit me by surprise," he said of the lawsuit.

"All I can say is people change and sometimes you don’t really know someone like you thought you did. Difficulties can be made from things that aren’t difficult, and then it goes to a place where it can never come back from.

"It’s unfortunate and untimely, but some things just change. People rewrite history and harbor thoughts you had no idea about."

He added that the songwriters have been somewhat estranged for well over two decades.

"I haven’t had a creative relationship with John for at least 25 years," Hall said. "We didn’t write songs together, we didn’t do anything together except perform live shows. We had an arrangement that I couldn’t play my solo songs onstage with Hall & Oates — and now I get to."

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Oates made similar comments during a recent interview with American Songwriter.

"There’s no way in my vision, peripherally, or in the future that we’re gonna get back together," he said.

That doesn't mean Oates isn't proud of what he and Hall accomplished together.

"You know, he’s one of the greatest … singers and talented people, songwriters, of all time," Oates said of his former partner. "He should be able to spread his wings, the same … way I am doing, and enjoy a certain type of creative freedom."

He also believes the duo's music will "live forever."

Both artists are now focused on their solo projects. Hall's sixth studio album D, a collaboration with Eurythmics member Dave Stewart, is due out on Friday, June 21. Oates' new solo album Reunion will drop on Friday, May 17.

"I’ve made eight solo albums over the past 20 years, but I’ve never been able to fully commit to any of them, because they were always shoehorned in between Hall & Oates concerts, and Hall & Oates responsibilities and commitments," Oates said.

"I never really felt I could really do what I wanted to do, the way I wanted to."

Social media users were upset about the breakup. Many compared it to the ongoing dispute between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

"The biggest & saddest beef in history is taking place right now & its Hall & Oates I don't know what y'all on, but this silent battle is killing me," one person said.

"Sorry to hear about their break up. Saw their concert many years ago, it was amazing," a different commenter said.

But others wondered why people were still talking about a duo whose commercial peak came several decades ago.

"Were they still a thing or is this a 40 year old article?" one person said.