Klein College Alumnus John Oates came back to Temple’s campus with his long-time industry colleagues Anthony Aquilato, David Haskell and Phil Nicolo to talk to students about a “Day in the Life” on tour.
Oates was the first of many artists that will be apart of The Klein College of Media and Communication Visiting Artists Series.
1977 alumnus Phil Nicolo comes back to Temple weekly teaching a Digital audio class as an adjunct professor.
“I started teaching here in 2004, so I get to come every week for four hours and have a great time getting that Temple energy and that Temple Vibe which I experienced when I was here 300 years ago,” said Nicolo.
John Oates can’t return to the campus as often as Nicolo, but he was shocked to see how Temple has evolved since he was a student.
“It really was very Philadelphia, their weren’t a lot of students from other parts of the country or anything like that and now when I see how it has expanded and how amazing the facilities are it is really just incredible,” explained Oates.
John Oates is known for being one half of the best selling music duo of all time Hall and Oates.
Both John Oates and Daryl Hall were working on their music careers while they were both attending Temple University.
“Daryl and I both had separate groups, he had a group called the Temptones and I had a group called The Masters and we both had recorded singles. They were being played concurrently on Philadelphia radio and local R&B stations. So we were aware of each other, but we didn’t know each other,” said Oates.
The duo met after a fight broke out while their bands were performing at a gig in West Philadelphia.
“We were both invited independently to go to a teenage dance basically on a Sunday afternoon in West Philly in a place called the Adelphi Ballroom. They would spin records and theoretically we would come out and lip sign our records, but a giant gang fight broke out and we escaped in the service elevator down on to the street and that’s how we met,” explained Oates.
Since Hall and Oates were running when they met Oates like to joke about how their career got its start.
“I like to say that our entire professional relationship was based on cowardice and greed.”
Oates was a new owl in his Freshmen year when they met and Haul was a year older, in his Sophomore year at the University.
“Making the choice to come to Temple University when I graduated from high school really it changed my entire life,” said Oates.
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