John Oates on going broke and his failed first marriage

Publish date: 2024-05-02

One half of the music duo Hall & Oates has told how he was left penniless after being 'seduced' into lavish spending in the 1970s which the pair could not keep up with. 

John Oates, now 68, was in his twenties when he and Daryl Hall formed their band. The pair won a contract with Atlantic Records in 1972 and soon topped charts.

He found love with Ford model Nancy Hunter who he plucked out of the crowd at a Minneapolis concert and the pair married in 1983, buying an apartment in Manhattan's West Village and a farm in Connecticut once she had moved to New York City.

In his new memoir Change of Seasons, the Possession Obsession hitmaker tells how his behavior cost him the marriage and how he became carried away with spending after cementing his rock star status.

'I should never have been married in the ’80s'. She was a successful model and I was running around the world like I was single,' he writes. 

John Oates (left last year) has told how his rock star behavior cost him his first marriage to Ford model Nancy Hunter (pictured together right in 1987) John Oates (left last year) has told how his rock star behavior cost him his first marriage to Ford model Nancy Hunter (pictured together right in 1987)

John Oates (left last year) has told how his rock star behavior cost him his first marriage to Ford model Nancy Hunter (pictured together right in 1987) 

Hunter, who has since re-married, tells the story of their break-up similarly.

'You can only carry on this existence for so long without it simply wearing you down. And it wasn’t always easy living in the shadows of John Oates,' she said in a 2013 interview

She described their marriage together nostalgically, recalling how Oates plucked her out of the crowd at a concert in Minneapolis while she was a student at the University of Minnesota.

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The pair began dating and John, whose star was rising, traveled to Minneapolis from New York to visit her before she uprooted to the Big Apple to pursue a modelling career.

'We lived an exciting and amazing life. I was in love, I was seeing the world, and I was meeting extraordinary people. Life was good. 

'It was a dream existence for a long while. On the arm of John Oates, the seas would part as we flew the Concord and private jets to exotic locals.' 

Oates and Hunter started dating in the late 1970s when he plucked her out of the crowd at one  of his Minneapolis concerts. She was a teenager at the time and was studying at the University of Minnesota while trying to launch her modelling career. They are pictured above in 1981 once she had moved to New York City 

Oates and Hunter started dating in the late 1970s when he plucked her out of the crowd at one  of his Minneapolis concerts. She was a teenager at the time and was studying at the University of Minnesota while trying to launch her modelling career. They are pictured above in 1981 once she had moved to New York City 

Hunter (left on the cover of French Elle in 1980 and right more recently) said she grew tired of living in Oates's 'shadow' Hunter (left on the cover of French Elle in 1980 and right more recently) said she grew tired of living in Oates's 'shadow'

Hunter (left on the cover of French Elle in 1980 and right more recently) said she grew tired of living in Oates's 'shadow' 

Oates and Hall (above in 1970) had already cemented their rock star status when he married the model. He said he behaved as though he was single throughout their marriage 

Oates and Hall (above in 1970) had already cemented their rock star status when he married the model. He said he behaved as though he was single throughout their marriage 

He also told how he and Hall (above last year) were 'seduced' into spending lavishly. The pair went broke but eventually won back some of their money through royalties 

He also told how he and Hall (above last year) were 'seduced' into spending lavishly. The pair went broke but eventually won back some of their money through royalties 

Oates bought a farm for the pair in Connecticut. Daryl Hall was in a relationship with Sara Allen at the time and they purchased a matching property nearby.

Sara was Hall's long-term girlfriend and the inspiration for the duo's hit Sara Smiles.

'Daryl and Sara bought a home nearby, and our two rock-star husbands began to make music in a studio they built nearby. It was a great time in my life, and although my marriage to John ended in divorce, I wouldn’t change a thing about my life,' Hunter said.

In addition to their West Village apartment and the Connecticut farm, Oates purchased another Manhattan bolthole along the way and an apartment in Aspen.

He owned several cars and his own plane but the spending soon caught up with him.

In his book, he tells how his accountant called him one day to tell him he was dead broke. The only money he could truly call his own was the $50 in his pocket, he said.

Oates blames his former manager Tommy Mottola and lawyer Allen Grubman for letting him get carried away. 

Oates married his current wife Aimee in 1995. They live together in Wood Creek, Colorado, and have a 20-year-old son  Daryl Hall's second wife Amanda Aspinall (right) filed for divorce in 2015

Oates married his current wife Aimee in 1995 (left). They live together in Wood Creek, Colorado, and have a 20-year-old son. Daryl Hall's second wife Amanda Aspinall (right) filed for divorce in 2015

'I just wish they’d warned us that the high life we were living would have financial consequences. We weren’t cheated; we were seduced,' he said in the book, exerts of which were published  by The New York Daily News on Monday. 

He and Hall were eventually able to win back some of their plundered fortune in royalties they'd been robbed of.

After divorcing Corbett, the singer found love again with his current wife Aimee. They married in 1995 and now live in Colorado with their son, Tanner. 

Hall never married Sara Allen. At the time of their relationship, he had already parted ways with his first wife, Bryna Lublin. 

His second wife Amanda Aspinall served him with divorce papers in 2015.  

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