John Oates, who’s headlining this year’s newly resumed Philadelphia Folk Festival, is widely perceived as the junior partner in Hall & Oates because Daryl Hall sang lead on most of their ’80s hits.
But it wasn’t always that way. In the duo’s early years in the ’70s, they split vocals and songwriting pretty much equally. That changed after they met Sara Allen – or more accurately, after Oates met Sara Allen. Though she’s known as Hall’s songwriting and romantic partner, it was Oates who introduced them.
Hall and Oates moved in 1973 from Philadelphia to New York, where they recorded their second LP, “Abandoned Luncheonette.” One day Oates met a couple of stewardesses – one was Allen – and chatted them up. She made quite an impression, inspiring this upbeat number. Oates takes the lead, but as on most songs on this Arif Marden-produced album, he and Hall trade vocals like the R&B duos they learned from. Songwriting was shared almost equally, too – Hall wrote four songs, Oates three and they collaborated on two.
Once Oates introduced Allen to Daryl Hall, the dynamic changed. She and Hall began a romantic relationship that lasted until 2001, becoming his inspiration for “Sara Smile” and his songwriting partner on several hits, including “Private Eyes, “I Can’t Go for That” and “Maneater.” Hall became more of a front man role, doing most lead vocals and the bulk of the songwriting, while Oates concentrated on guitar and backing vocals. That configuration represented the peak of their popularity, so that’s how they’ve been remembered ever since.
Sara Allen, who broke up with Hall in 2001, stayed out of the limelight, but you can see what she looked like in 1973 on the video the duo taped for “She’s Gone,” now an internet cult classic. Allen is the woman who walks past the camera every time the chorus reaches the title phrase.
