Dean Friedman
Dean Friedman | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Paramus, New Jersey, U.S. | May 23, 1955
Genres | Soft rock, pop, folk |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, producer, author, virtual reality designer, video game designer |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, piano, electronic keyboard, harmonica, vocals |
Years active | 1977–present |
Website | www |
Dean Friedman (born May 23, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar, and harmonica.
Although considered a one-hit wonder in the US, he has had multiple singles chart in other territories and continues to write, record, and tour.[1][2]
Music
Born and raised in Paramus, New Jersey, United States, Friedman purchased his first guitar from Manny's Music with a bag of quarters he had saved, at age nine in 1964, and started writing songs. When he was a teenager, he played weddings and bar mitzvahs as part of Marsha and the Self-Portraits,[3] sent out demos and majored in music at City College of New York where one of his teachers was guitarist David Bromberg.[4] By the time he was 20, in 1975, he had a manager and a recording contract with Cashman and West's Lifesong label.[5]
In the United States he is described as a
"Ariel" has been described as a "quirkily irresistible and uncategorizable pop song about a free spirited, music loving, vegetarian
Although "Ariel" did not make the
Friedman also provided vocals for a series of television commercials in the 1970s in the New York City metro area. However, while he did re-record and perform one version for an employee event, Friedman is falsely credited with creating and singing on the jingle for electronics chain Crazy Eddie's "When you think you're ready, come down to Crazy Eddie", which was actually created, performed, produced and recorded in its various versions (doo-wop, disco and other versions) by Larry Weiss (Crazy Eddie's VP Advertising) along with Jeff Gottschalk and John Russo.
Friedman's single "
During 2005, as part of a tie-in to one of his tour sponsors, Friedman's tour of the United Kingdom was almost canceled 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.[citation needed]
Influence
The songs of Dean Friedman have been covered by several contemporary bands, including The Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, Ariel Pink, The Tone Rangers, and The Blenders. The lead singer of Barenaked Ladies, Steve Page, sang background vocals on Friedman's album Songs For Grownups (1998).[13]
TV and films
Friedman has written, performed, and produced the
Other (non-musical) work
In 1985, Friedman produced a seminal work on the newly emerging synthesizer industry called Complete Guide to Synthesizers, Sequencers, and Drum Machines. Whilst dated, this tome published by New York Amsco 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 humor.
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 EyeToy). 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, used on the series Total Panic 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.[13]
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 continued to tour, playing small venues.[2]
He copied this tactic again in 2005 with the album Squirrels in the Attic and once more, in 2017, with 12 Songs.
Family
His sister, Racelle Rosett Schaefer, is a noted television writer who was executive producer of the show Blossom, starring Mayim Bialik.
He has lived in New York since 2007 with his wife, Alison, and two children: Hannah Friedman (born 1986), and Sam Friedman (born 1990),[10][13] both of whom have appeared as a backing singer or musician on his later works.
Dean Friedman and Half Man Half Biscuit
The British band
In 2009, Friedman wrote a "reply" called "A Baker's Tale", in which he firmly placed Blackwell's parentage as being that of the local baker, posting it on Half Man Half Biscuit's MySpace site. The band mentioned it on their own website[17] as "Dean Friedman's Revenge/Dean Friedman strikes back". On September 15, 2010, Dean Friedman appeared at a Half Man Half Biscuit gig at the Robin 2 venue in Bilston, West Midlands (UK) and performed "A Baker's Tale". Half Man Half Biscuit's riposte was "The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman".[18][19] Friedman's song is included on his 2010 album Submarine Races.[20]
Discography
Albums
- Deano's Demos Vol. 1 (1976)
- Dean Friedman (1977)
- "Well, Well" Said the Rocking Chair (1978) – UK #21,[12] AUS #70[21]
- Rumpled Romeo (1981)
- Live! At The Duke of York (1985)
- Music From "Boon" (TV soundtrack) (1986)
- I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (Movie soundtrack) (1990)
- The Very Best of Dean Friedman (1991)
- Bloomsbury Live! (1995)
- Dean Friedman in Concert – Shepherds Bush Empire (1998)
- Songs for Grownups (1998)
- The Treehouse Journals (2002)
- A Million Matzoh Balls (2003)
- Squirrels in the Attic (2005)
- Dean's "Kids Songs" (2007)
- Submarine Races (2010)
- Words & Music (2014)
- 12 Songs (2017)
- American Lullaby (2021)
Chart singles
Year | Title | US Billboard | US Cash Box
|
WLS Chicago | AUS[21] | CAN | UK | NL
|
New Zealand
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | "Ariel" | 26 | 17 | 4 | 91 | 19 | 54[A] | — | 19 |
"Woman of Mine" | — | — | — | — | — | 52 | — | — | |
1978 | "Lucky Stars" | — | — | — | 6 | — | 3 | — | 8 |
"Lydia" | — | — | — | — | — | 31 | 29 | — | |
1982 | "McDonalds Girl" | — | — | — | 99 | — | — | — | — |
DVDs
- Dean Friedman Live on the Isle of Wight (2009)
See also
References
- ^ Chart position is from the official UK "Breakers List".
- ^ "Why Dean is no one hit wonder". Manchester Evening News. July 12, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
- ^ a b "Dean Friedman". New York Times. July 9, 2004.
- ^ "Dean Friedman: Information from". Answers.com. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Dean Friedman". MSN Music. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
- ^ "Biography by Bruce Eder". Allmusic.com. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
- ^ Bruce Eder. "Dean Friedman | Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Chart" (PDF). Charismusicgroup.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 29, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
- ^ "Cash Box Top 100 8/06/77". cashboxmagazine.com. August 6, 1977. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
- ^ "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ^ a b "The View From/Peekskill; Rock-and-Roll Dreams Die Hard on Internet". New York Times. June 20, 1999.
- ^ "Newsletter – August, 1995". Deanfriedman.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ a b c d e "Bio". Deanfriedman.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Bio". Deanfriedman.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Lucky Stars" lyrics, Genius.com. Retrieved 15 January 2018
- ^ "Edinburgh Festivals – Surreal, or what?". Cobweb.businesscollaborator.com. August 12, 2003. Archived from the original on March 8, 2004. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Half Man Half Biscuit". Hmhb.co.uk. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- YouTube
- ^ Wright, Jade (September 29, 2011). "Dean Friedman tells Jade Wright why he's planning revenge on Half Man Half Biscuit". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
- AllMusic. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
External links
- Official website
- Dean Friedman at IMDb