His mother played songs by Frank Sinatra to him as a child, and he later became a fan of Motown and other R&B/soul music. He took piano lessons as a child, but he did not like them. He would skip the lessons and ride his bicycle across the bridge from his grandfather's farm over to the heart of the black "Chicken Hill" ghetto, where he could just listen and absorb the music.

In the 1960s, Hall attended Temple University, but did not graduate, preferring instead to spend his time singing on the street corners and play with various musicians and groups. At that time, Daryl Hohl (as he was called then) sang backup for different bands. He eventually changed his last name to Hall. Daryl Hall idolized the Temptations and began to perform session work as a singer. He first met John Oates at a band competition.

After John transferred to a different school, Daryl joined the band Gulliver, which released one eponymous album in 1969 before being dropped from their label.

Daryl is the host of the wildly popular online show entitled "Live From Daryl's House", where Daryl and the band collaborate with artists from various musical genres on the 15th of each month. The first episode aired in 2007, and it's still going strong. Best of all, it's free to watch. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.