Who is Dean Friedman? The only Ariel I know is from The Little Mermaid.

Dean Friedman is a singer from New Jersey. His song "Ariel" was his only Top 40 hit in the US, and IMO his best song, but despite regular airplay it flopped in the UK. Here, his biggest hit was "Lucky Stars" (a  duet with Denise Marsa), but that one flopped in the US. Now, here is "Ariel":

I thought you would have remembered this one even if it was the only Dean Friedman song you'd ever heard. Meanwhile, there was an Australian rock band called Ariel, and I just wondered what would have been the result if they had done a song called "Dean Friedman". I wonder how Dean himself would have reacted? I imagine he would see the funny side. Lol:)

Never heard it before. Meh.

That does surprise me. It was around in 1977, and since it charted in the US it surely must have been played regularly on the radio there. It was played on UK radio surprisingly often for a record that fell outside the Top 50 here.

That was my first semester in college after getting out of the Army. I almost never listened to the radio then. I either listened to my 800 LPs or I went to see live music in clubs in Austin.

Ah, I see.