Hall & Oates see red over "blue-eyed" term

By Dean Goodman

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - Hall & Oates, one of the best-selling duos of the rock era, picked up an award for lifetime achievement on Tuesday, but not before frontman Daryl Hall rebuked producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds for praising the combo's "blue-eyed soul."

"Soul music is not about race," Hall said, after he and partner John Oates were presented with Icon Awards during performing rights group BMI's annual Pop Music Awards ceremony. "There ain't no 'blue-eyed soul' ... Keep that in mind, OK?"

Minutes earlier, Edmonds had performed the duo's tune "Sara Smile" after jokingly recounting his youthful assumption that "blue-eyed soul" -- an approbatory term used to describe soulful white singers -- meant "black guys with blue eyes."

"I was trying to write their songs a long time ago," Edmonds added, clearly a fan of the duo's rich catalogue of catchy melodies.

He was preceded by Patrick Stump, the frontman for the rock band Fall Out Boy, who performed Hall & Oates' first chart-topper "Rich Girl."

For their part, Hall & Oates dusted off their hits "Maneater," "Out of Touch" and the breakthrough tune "She's Gone" for the black-tie crowd at a Beverly Hills hotel.

The duo frequently reached the upper echelons of the pop charts during the 1980s with tunes inspired by the R&B scene in their Philadelphia hometown, not to mention Motown session player James Jamerson's bass lines.

According to BMI, Hall & Oates enjoyed eight no. 1 singles, and three double-platinum albums (each with U.S. shipments in excess of two million units).

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)