Primary Wave Music Publishing has sealed a deal acquiring the copyright
interests of Sara and Janna Allen, the sisters who co-wrote many hit songs
with Hall & Oates, Billboard.biz has learned.
Among the catalog of roughly 70 songs co-written by the sisters are such No.
1 hits on The Billboard Hot 100 as “Kiss On My List” (April 1981, Janna,
Hall); “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” (Nov. 1981, Sara, Hall); “Maneater”
(Dec. 1982, Sara, Hall); and “Private Eyes” (Nov. 1981, Sara, Janna, Hall,
Warren Pash). Other top 10 hits on the chart include “Method of Modern Love”
(No. 5, Feb. 1985, Janna, Hall); “You Make My Dreams” (No. 5, July 1981,
Sara, Hall); and “Did It In A Minute” (No. 9, May 1982, Sara, Janna, Hall).
Primary Wave also owns the copyright interests of Hall & Oates in many of
their songs, some of which are co-published by Warner/Chappell Music and
others by BMG Music Publishing.
“This solidifies our interest in all the other Hall & Oates acquisitions,”
Larry Mestel, CEO/partner of Primary Wave, tells Billboard.biz.
Primary Wave did not acquire the writers’ shares in the Allen sisters’
songs, Mestel says.
The Hall & Oates single “Sara Smile” was written for Sara, Hall’s girlfriend
at the time. Janna passed away in 1993 at the age of 36 after suffering from
leukemia.
