Dean Friedman
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Dean Friedman (born 1955) is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments, including the harmonica.
He was described as a one-hit wonder [1] following his top 20 hit song Ariel in 1977—a "quirkily irresistible and uncategorizable pop song about a free spirited, music loving, vegetarian Jewish girl", from Paramus, New Jersey, where he grew up. Ariel is also the only Billboard top 40 song to contain the word Paramus, describing the girl Ariel, "standing by the waterfalls at Paramus Park", one of the many shopping malls in Paramus. Ironically, the waterfalls were taken down a number of years ago. Lucky Stars, a duet with Denise Marsa, was a Top 10 UK hit in 1978. Unlike many so-called one-hit-wonders, Friedman is still (as of 2006) writing and performing songs.
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[edit] Influences
The songs of Dean Friedman have been covered by several contemporary bands, including The Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and The Blenders. The lead singer of Barenaked Ladies, Steve Page, sings background vocals on Friedman's album Songs For Grownups (1998).
The British band Half Man Half Biscuit had a hit in 1986 with the song Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman, a claim Friedman emphatically denies.
[edit] TV and films
Friedman has written, performed and produced the theme music to several TV series including Boon, starring Michael Elphick. Other TV credits include Nick Arcade (Nickelodeon) and Eerie, Indiana (NBC). He also composed, performed and produced the soundtrack to the cult horror film I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle in which he performs the track She Runs on Blood, Not Gasoline.
[edit] Other (non-musical) work
In 1985, Friedman produced a seminal work on the newly emerging synthesiser industry called Complete Guide to Synthesizers, Sequencers, and Drum Machines. Whilst dated, this tome is still of use in evaluating devices that crop up on the second hand market. Friedman also set up the "New York School of Synthesis", and provided a series of videos entitled "Intro To Synthesis". Friedman presents the rudiments of this topic in an audio-visual format, whilst incorporating a unique sense of humour.
In 1986, Friedman saw a demo of a powerful Virtual Reality program that put the user right inside a video game using a video camera (similar to the technology used by the Eye Toy).
Friedman was impressed by the technology and wrote an article for Electronic Musician magazine. In 1989 he designed a game called Eat-A-Bug which was licensed to Nickelodeon TV and served as a prototype for the series Nick Arcade, for which Friedman produced a dozen games. He is now the President and Creative Director of InVideo games.
[edit] Controversy
The record label which produced Ariel insisted Friedman change the song's second verse which refers to the eponymous Ariel as "...a Jewish girl", believing that radio stations may use it as an excuse not to play the record. The third verse was also removed to make the single shorter for radio. The management company received threats from the Jewish Defense League protesting against the edit and, at Friedman's insistence, the original version was put on the album.
Friedman's second single McDonald's Girl was officially banned by the BBC because the chorus mentioned the name of the fast food restaurant.
During 2005, as part of a tie-in to one of his tour sponsors, Friedman's tour of the United Kingdom was almost cancelled after it was revealed he intended to distribute cannabis seeds to purchasers of his new album. Although it is not illegal to own or distribute cannabis seeds in this manner "unless they get wet", the suggestion caused friction with a number of venues on the tour, so the intended distribution was not carried out.
[edit] Revival
Friedman's album, The Treehouse Journals was financed entirely by his fans via his website. Friedman invited people to finance the cost of the as-yet unrecorded album by making an advance purchase and by making limited edition signed copies available. This tactic has been adopted by other bands, including Marillion.
He copied this tactic again in 2005, with the album Squirrels in the Attic.
His sister, Racelle Rosett Schaefer, is a noted television writer who was executive producer of the show Blossom, starring Mayim Bialik.
- "The internet makes it possible to get rid of the middleman, once and for all!" — Dean Friedman
[edit] Discography
- Squirrels in the Attic (2005)
- The Treehouse Journals (2002)
- Songs for Grownups (1998)
- Dean Friedman In Concert – Sheperds Bush Empire (1998)
- Bloomsbury Live! (1995)
- Live! At The Duke of York (1985)
- Rumpled Romeo (1981)
- "Well, Well", Said the Rocking Chair (1978)
- Dean Friedman (1977)
- Music From "Boon" - TV Soundtrack
- I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle - Soundtrack
- Dean's "Kids Songs"
- A Million Matzoh Balls
