Daryl Hall, John Oates hinted they were never close: Only ‘business partners’ and ‘very separate’

They’ve lost — or never had — that lovin’ feeling.

Daryl Hall’s lawsuit against music partner John Oates may have shocked fans, but the pair have made it clear through the years that they aren’t best friends — to put it mildly.

“John and I are brothers, but we are not creative brothers,” Hall declared during an interview on the “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast in December 2022.

“We are business partners. We made records called Hall & Oates together, but we’ve always been very separate, and that’s a really important thing for me,” he added.

The musician also implied that he did most of the work, noting that their 1980 song “Kiss on My List” doesn’t list Oates as a songwriter.

Earlier this month, Hall and his organization, the Daryl Hall Revocable Trust, filed a lawsuit against Oates and Oates’ trust, the John W. Oates TISA Trust and its co-trustees in Davidson County Chancery Court.

Additionally, the court issued a temporary restraining order to begin Nov. 30.

The documents, which were filed on Nov. 16 in Nashville, Tennessee, are labeled as relating to a “contract/debt” suit and are currently sealed. However, a source told TMZ that the legal battle pertains to “the ground rules of who can sing what as a solo artist, along with money issues of course.”

Oates performed a series of solo shows earlier this month, while Hall reportedly sang some of their songs at the Tokyo Garden Theater in Japan on Nov. 23.

The group was formed after the pair met as undergrads at Temple University in Philadelphia. In 2003, they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and they were officially sworn into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Some of their biggest hits include “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”

Ahead of their 2017 tour, they sat down with “CBS Sunday Morning” for an interview.

“Did I think that I’d be working with John and we’d be sitting side-by-side all these years later?” Hall said at the time. “No, it didn’t even occur to me.”

Oates added: “Our job is the job that everyone dreams of. Play instruments, sing, write music, make records. Why would you wanna quit?”

“If you look on every album we’ve ever made, it says, ‘Daryl Hall and John Oates,’” Oates noted. “Now, it may seem a subtle distinction. But we’ve always looked at ourselves as two individuals who are distinctly different, who work together. And to this day, that’s how we view ourselves.”

In 2020, they’d go on to play together at a sold-out show in Madison Square Garden in New York and speak with The Post head of the concert — separately.

“No. John and I never fight,” Hall told The Post’s Chuck Arnold when asked if they ever argued over a song. “We’ve never had a real fight since we’ve known each other — and that’s since we were kids, teenagers. We just know to deal with each other. That’s why we’re still together.”

Oates, for his part, added in his own interview: “The fact that Daryl and I are still friends, that he and I still get along — it’s a miracle. But we do.”