[1][2] 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.

[9] "Ariel" has been described as a "quirkily irresistible and uncategorizable pop song about a free spirited, music loving, vegetarian Jewish girl," from Paramus, New Jersey, where he grew up.

Although "Ariel" did not make the UK Singles Chart, "Lucky Stars", a duet with Denise Marsa taken from his second album Well Well Said the Rocking Chair, made No.

Friedman's single "McDonald's Girl" was officially banned by the BBC because the chorus mentioned the name of the fast food restaurant.

[citation needed] 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).

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 presents the rudiments of this topic in an audio-visual format, whilst incorporating a unique sense of humor.

His sister, Racelle Rosett Schaefer, is a noted television writer who was executive producer of the show Blossom, starring Mayim Bialik.