Ross Bagdasarian
Encyclopedia
Rostom Sipan "Ross" Bagdasarian (January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972) was an Armenian
-American
pianist
, singer, songwriter
, actor
and record producer
. He was better known by the stage name
David Seville, which he used on his recordings featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks
.
, the youngest child of Dick and Virginia (Saroyan) Bagdasarian, immigrants from Armenia
. He enlisted in the United States Army
one month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and served until the end of World War II
.
Bagdasarian performed in the Broadway
cast of The Time of Your Life
, written by his famous cousin, William Saroyan
. Bagdasarian's first musical success was the song he wrote with Saroyan, "Come on-a My House
," recorded by Rosemary Clooney
in 1951. The lyrics are based on dialogue from Saroyan's novel The Human Comedy. They wrote the song on the post-Broadway tour bus of The Time of Your Life in 1939, and recorded it under their own names as a duet (Saroyan speaking the narrative, Bagdasarian delivering the lyrics in dialect) for Coral Records
. ("Come on-a My House" inspired an answer record, "Where's-a Your House?" by Robert Q. Lewis
.)
Bagdasarian played minor roles in films, the best known of which is his appearance in Alfred Hitchcock
's 1954 murder mystery Rear Window
. Bagdasarian portrays a piano-playing songwriter
who composes, plays, and sings the song "Lisa." His character lives in an apartment opposite of Jimmy Stewart; in keeping with the screenplay's theme of social voyeurism, his dialogue is never clearly heard, and he appears only in long shots, sometimes seen through a window. He is stands next to Hitchcock in his signature cameo appearance
. Bagdasarian had small parts in The Greatest Show on Earth
, Viva Zapata!
, Destination Gobi
, Stalag 17
, Alaska Seas, The Proud and Profane
, Three Violent People
, Hot Blood, The Deep Six
, and The Devil's Hairpin.
In 1956, Bagdasarian had a moderate hit as "Alfi and Harry" with a novelty record "The Trouble with Harry
," the same title as Alfred Hitchcock's comedy-thriller that year. He wrote The Ballad of Colin Black, a tie-in
song to The Proud and Profane
. According to Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
, his father was down to his last $200 when he spent $190 on a V-M
tape recorder that would let him vary the tape speed. As David Seville, Bagdasarian had a number-one hit in the summer of 1958 with the "Witch Doctor," which was his first experiment with speeding an audio track to get a distinctive, squeaky, high-pitched voice. He followed this with "The Bird on My Head
", which barely made the Top 40. Then for the 1958 Christmas season came "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
" with The Chipmunks
, for which he won two Grammy Award
s in 1959: Best Comedy Performance
and Best Recording for Children
.
Bagdasarian named the three Chipmunk characters after record executives: Simon Waronker
, Ted Keep (Theodore), and Alvin Bennett
.
Most consumer tape recorders of the day had changeable speeds, but usually only in simple multiples, doubling or halving the speed, creating sounds an octave apart. Changing speeds of voices in these limited multiples creates extremely high or low pitches that sound too extreme for most purposes. (Walt Disney
used half-speed recording for his Chip 'n Dale
cartoon characters, for example, creating difficulties for audiences in understanding the extremely fast dialogue, which, as a result, had to consist of very short phrases.) For his professional releases, Bagdasarian's main recording innovation was to use tape machines that could vary speeds in between these extreme octaves, creating more understandable and thus emotionally accessible voices that worked well for both singing and spoken dialogue.
The first Chipmunk record, "The Chipmunk Song," had Bagdasarian doing all the voices. (The spoken coda, when played slowly, reveals Bagdasarian enacting the roles of Theodore, Simon, and Alvin.) Thereafter, most of his Chipmunk records used female voice artists, recorded only about 1/4 slower than the normal playback speed. (Play one of his 45 records at 33 RPM and the original female voices emerge.) The results were more understandable and warmer sped up voice performances that the public was able to respond to.
After the success of "The Chipmunk Song", a series of follow-up hit singles were quickly released, also on Liberty Records. "Alvin's Harmonica" being the second, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" the third and "Alvin's Orchestra" the fourth, with B-sides (like "Mediocre" and "Almost Good") sometimes featuring non-chipmunk semi-comedic concepts. Albums also continued this trend, the first album being released on red vinyl, successfully continuing well into the 60s with an album of the Chipmunks singing various early hits of the Beatles in 1964. (Even a Chipmunk album of punk
and new wave
songs was released in the 1980s by Ross Jr.)
Other trick-recording producers tried to imitate Seville's Chipmunks, with usually embarrassing results for lack of good comedy writing and weak characterization. A failed novelty single by "Shirley and Squirrelly" is a good example. Wynecote Records attempted to cash in on both the Chipmunks and Beatlemania in 1964 with an LP dubbed "A Hard Day's Night, and others" by the Four Chipmunks (SW-9037) but later were forced to change the artist credit to the more generic "Wynecote Squirrels."
Ray Stevens
had somewhat better luck using similar speed-varying techniques on some of his novelty records, particularly his "Bridget the Midget" song from 1970 which hit the Top-5 in the United Kingdom in early 1971, as did Sheb Wooley
with his "Purple People Eater" single in the late 1950s. Other novelty recording artists experimented with similar speed tricks—Buddy Holly
recorded a Chipmunk-styled version of Little Richard
's "Slippin' and Slidin'" for his own amusement, and his slow vocal was later released commercially—but none came close to the longevity of Bagdasarian's strongly-defined Chipmunk characters, Simon, Theodore, and the always trouble-making Alvin.
Following his hit records, Bagdasarian provided the voice for the David Seville and Chipmunk characters in the Chipmunks
' short-lived 1961-62 animated television series The Alvin Show
.
The Chipmunks' recordings had the performers often labeled as "David Seville and the Chipmunks" and the composer typically listed as "Bagdasarian." Bagdasarian's last album was The Chipmunks Go to the Movies, released in 1969, almost three years before his death.
on January 16, 1972, eleven days before his 53rd birthday; he was cremated
at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
in Los Angeles, California
. His ashes were moved later by his son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
All Chipmunk activity ceased until 1979, when Ross Jr began releasing Chipmunks recordings. He also became the voice for David Seville and the Chipmunks, except for those performed by Ross Jr.'s wife, Janice Karman
, such as Theodore and all of The Chipettes.
Ross Jr. said he was surprised to find himself following in his father's footsteps. “I revered my dad, but I didn’t want to do what he had done. That was his creation. Had he remained alive, I never would have done this. But when he passed away suddenly, it was a way of keeping my dad alive, and keeping what he created alive."
The 2007
film Alvin and the Chipmunks
was dedicated to his memory. A title card shown in the middle of the end credits reads "This film is dedicated to Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who was crazy enough to invent three singing chipmunks nearly fifty years ago".
Songs recorded under the name "David Seville", unless otherwise noted. For a look at The Chipmunks' discography, refer to the Alvin and the Chipmunks discography
page.
The Witch Doctor Presents: David Seville...and his Friends (1958 Liberty 3092)
The Mixed-up World of Bagdasarian (1966 Liberty 7451; recorded under David Seville's real name, Ross Bagdasarian)
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He was better known by the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
David Seville, which he used on his recordings featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
.
Life and career
Bagdasarian was born in Fresno, CaliforniaFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, the youngest child of Dick and Virginia (Saroyan) Bagdasarian, immigrants from Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. He enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
one month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and served until the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Bagdasarian performed in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
cast of The Time of Your Life
The Time of Your Life
The Time of Your Life is a 1939 five-act play by American playwright William Saroyan. The play is the first drama to win both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The play opened 25 October 1939 at the Booth Theatre in New York City...
, written by his famous cousin, William Saroyan
William Saroyan
William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...
. Bagdasarian's first musical success was the song he wrote with Saroyan, "Come on-a My House
Come on-a My House
"Come on-a My House" is a song performed by Rosemary Clooney on her album Come On-A My House, released on June 6, 1951. The song was written by Ross Bagdasarian and noted Armenian American writer William Saroyan in the summer of 1939 but did not become a hit until the release of Clooney's recording...
," recorded by Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
in 1951. The lyrics are based on dialogue from Saroyan's novel The Human Comedy. They wrote the song on the post-Broadway tour bus of The Time of Your Life in 1939, and recorded it under their own names as a duet (Saroyan speaking the narrative, Bagdasarian delivering the lyrics in dialect) for Coral Records
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
. ("Come on-a My House" inspired an answer record, "Where's-a Your House?" by Robert Q. Lewis
Robert Q. Lewis
Robert Q. Lewis was an American radio and television personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q...
.)
Bagdasarian played minor roles in films, the best known of which is his appearance in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's 1954 murder mystery Rear Window
Rear Window
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
. Bagdasarian portrays a piano-playing songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
who composes, plays, and sings the song "Lisa." His character lives in an apartment opposite of Jimmy Stewart; in keeping with the screenplay's theme of social voyeurism, his dialogue is never clearly heard, and he appears only in long shots, sometimes seen through a window. He is stands next to Hitchcock in his signature cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
. Bagdasarian had small parts in The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture...
, Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata!
Viva Zapata! is a 1952 fictional-biographical film directed by Elia Kazan. The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck, using as a guide Edgcomb Pinchon's book, 'Zapata the Unconquerable', a fact that is not credited in the titles of the film...
, Destination Gobi
Destination Gobi
Destination Gobi is a 1953 Technicolor war film in which Sam McHale heads a group of US Navy men, sent to Mongolia for weather observation. McHale must lead his men across the treacherous Gobi desert to the freedom of the seacoast...
, Stalag 17
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
, Alaska Seas, The Proud and Profane
The Proud and Profane
The Proud and Profane is a 1956 dramatic war romance made by William Perlberg-George Seaton Productions for Paramount Pictures. It was directed by George Seaton and produced by William Perlberg, from a screenplay by George Seaton, based on the novel The Magnificent Bastards by Lucy Herndon...
, Three Violent People
Three Violent People
Three Violent People is a 1957 American western movie starring Charlton Heston and Anne Baxter.-Plot:Confederate soldier Capt. Colt Saunders comes home to Texas from the war...
, Hot Blood, The Deep Six
The Deep Six
The Deep Six is a 1958 Warnercolor World War II drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, was based on a novel with the same name by Martin Dibner...
, and The Devil's Hairpin.
In 1956, Bagdasarian had a moderate hit as "Alfi and Harry" with a novelty record "The Trouble with Harry
The Trouble with Harry
The Trouble With Harry is a 1955 American black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel of the same name by Jack Trevor Story. It was released in the United States on October 3, 1955 then rereleased once the distribution rights were acquired by Universal Pictures in 1984...
," the same title as Alfred Hitchcock's comedy-thriller that year. He wrote The Ballad of Colin Black, a tie-in
Tie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
song to The Proud and Profane
The Proud and Profane
The Proud and Profane is a 1956 dramatic war romance made by William Perlberg-George Seaton Productions for Paramount Pictures. It was directed by George Seaton and produced by William Perlberg, from a screenplay by George Seaton, based on the novel The Magnificent Bastards by Lucy Herndon...
. According to Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...
, his father was down to his last $200 when he spent $190 on a V-M
Voice of Music
Voice Of Music was the premier brand of V-M Corporation, an American audio equipment manufacturing company .-History:...
tape recorder that would let him vary the tape speed. As David Seville, Bagdasarian had a number-one hit in the summer of 1958 with the "Witch Doctor," which was his first experiment with speeding an audio track to get a distinctive, squeaky, high-pitched voice. He followed this with "The Bird on My Head
The Bird On My Head
-Background:It was the second novelty song to be recorded under the stage name David Seville , as well as the last song to be recorded before the creation of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Like Seville's first novelty song, "Witch Doctor", the song has a sped-up voice...
", which barely made the Top 40. Then for the 1958 Christmas season came "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
"The Chipmunk Song " is a song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian , the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictitious singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore...
" with The Chipmunks
The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
, for which he won two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s in 1959: Best Comedy Performance
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album was awarded from yearly 1959 to 1993 and then from 2004 to present day. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1967 it was Best Comedy Performance...
and Best Recording for Children
Grammy Award for Best Album for Children
The Grammy Award for Best Album for Children has been awarded since 1959. Prior to 1992, the award was known as Best Recording for Children and was therefore open to any audio recording, whether it was an album, a single song, a recording of a book, or the audio from a television show or movie...
.
Bagdasarian named the three Chipmunk characters after record executives: Simon Waronker
Simon Waronker
Simon "Si" Waronker was a violinist and record producer from Los Angeles, California. Graduating from high school at 13 years old, he won a scholarship to study music in France....
, Ted Keep (Theodore), and Alvin Bennett
Alvin Bennett
Alvin S. "Al" Bennett , from Joiner, Arkansas, was a record company executive who worked at Dot Records, then Liberty Records. He was president of Liberty until 1968. At that time he founded Cream Records, which absorbed Hi Records in 1977. Bennett is also known for lending his name to the...
.
Most consumer tape recorders of the day had changeable speeds, but usually only in simple multiples, doubling or halving the speed, creating sounds an octave apart. Changing speeds of voices in these limited multiples creates extremely high or low pitches that sound too extreme for most purposes. (Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
used half-speed recording for his Chip 'n Dale
Chip 'n Dale
Chip and Dale are two chipmunk cartoon characters created in 1943 at Walt Disney Productions. Their names are a pun based on the name "Chippendale"...
cartoon characters, for example, creating difficulties for audiences in understanding the extremely fast dialogue, which, as a result, had to consist of very short phrases.) For his professional releases, Bagdasarian's main recording innovation was to use tape machines that could vary speeds in between these extreme octaves, creating more understandable and thus emotionally accessible voices that worked well for both singing and spoken dialogue.
The first Chipmunk record, "The Chipmunk Song," had Bagdasarian doing all the voices. (The spoken coda, when played slowly, reveals Bagdasarian enacting the roles of Theodore, Simon, and Alvin.) Thereafter, most of his Chipmunk records used female voice artists, recorded only about 1/4 slower than the normal playback speed. (Play one of his 45 records at 33 RPM and the original female voices emerge.) The results were more understandable and warmer sped up voice performances that the public was able to respond to.
After the success of "The Chipmunk Song", a series of follow-up hit singles were quickly released, also on Liberty Records. "Alvin's Harmonica" being the second, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" the third and "Alvin's Orchestra" the fourth, with B-sides (like "Mediocre" and "Almost Good") sometimes featuring non-chipmunk semi-comedic concepts. Albums also continued this trend, the first album being released on red vinyl, successfully continuing well into the 60s with an album of the Chipmunks singing various early hits of the Beatles in 1964. (Even a Chipmunk album of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
songs was released in the 1980s by Ross Jr.)
Other trick-recording producers tried to imitate Seville's Chipmunks, with usually embarrassing results for lack of good comedy writing and weak characterization. A failed novelty single by "Shirley and Squirrelly" is a good example. Wynecote Records attempted to cash in on both the Chipmunks and Beatlemania in 1964 with an LP dubbed "A Hard Day's Night, and others" by the Four Chipmunks (SW-9037) but later were forced to change the artist credit to the more generic "Wynecote Squirrels."
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
had somewhat better luck using similar speed-varying techniques on some of his novelty records, particularly his "Bridget the Midget" song from 1970 which hit the Top-5 in the United Kingdom in early 1971, as did Sheb Wooley
Sheb Wooley
Shelby F. "Sheb" Wooley was a character actor and singer, best known for his 1958 novelty song "Purple People Eater"...
with his "Purple People Eater" single in the late 1950s. Other novelty recording artists experimented with similar speed tricks—Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
recorded a Chipmunk-styled version of Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
's "Slippin' and Slidin'" for his own amusement, and his slow vocal was later released commercially—but none came close to the longevity of Bagdasarian's strongly-defined Chipmunk characters, Simon, Theodore, and the always trouble-making Alvin.
Following his hit records, Bagdasarian provided the voice for the David Seville and Chipmunk characters in the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
' short-lived 1961-62 animated television series The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show is an American animated television series. It was the first to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks, although a series with a similar concept The Nutty Squirrels Present had aired a year earlier...
.
The Chipmunks' recordings had the performers often labeled as "David Seville and the Chipmunks" and the composer typically listed as "Bagdasarian." Bagdasarian's last album was The Chipmunks Go to the Movies, released in 1969, almost three years before his death.
Death
Bagdasarian was found dead of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on January 16, 1972, eleven days before his 53rd birthday; he was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory is a crematory and columbarium located at 1605 South Catalina Street Los Angeles, California, in the historic West Adams District a short distance southwest of Downtown...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. His ashes were moved later by his son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...
All Chipmunk activity ceased until 1979, when Ross Jr began releasing Chipmunks recordings. He also became the voice for David Seville and the Chipmunks, except for those performed by Ross Jr.'s wife, Janice Karman
Janice Karman
Janice Felice Karman is an American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian, Jr....
, such as Theodore and all of The Chipettes.
Ross Jr. said he was surprised to find himself following in his father's footsteps. “I revered my dad, but I didn’t want to do what he had done. That was his creation. Had he remained alive, I never would have done this. But when he passed away suddenly, it was a way of keeping my dad alive, and keeping what he created alive."
The 2007
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
film Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks (film)
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 comedy film directed by Tim Hill. Based on the animated series of the same name, the film stars Jason Lee, David Cross, and Cameron Richardson with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and...
was dedicated to his memory. A title card shown in the middle of the end credits reads "This film is dedicated to Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who was crazy enough to invent three singing chipmunks nearly fifty years ago".
Singles
Songs recorded under the name "Ross Bagdasarian", unless otherwise noted:- "Oh Beauty/Come On-A My House" (1951 Coral 60544; recorded under the name "William Saroyan & Ross Bagdasarian")
- "The Girl With The Tambourine/He Say Mu-Humm" (1951 Coral 60597)
- "Hey Brother Pour The Wine/Let's Have A Merry Merry Christmas" (1953 Mercury 70254)
- "Lucy Lucy/Scallywags & Sinners" (1963 Liberty 55619)
- "The Bold & Brave/See A Teardrop Fall" (1956 Liberty 55013)
- "Judy/Maria From Madrid" (1959 Liberty 55193)
- "Lotta Bull/??" (1959 Liberty 55239)
- "Lazy Lovers/One Finger Waltz" (1960 Liberty 55276)
- " Armen's Theme/Russian Roulette" (1962 Liberty 55462)
- "Cecelia/Gotta Get To Your House" (1963 Liberty 55557)
- "La Noche/Naval Maneuver" (1965 Liberty 55810)
- "Come On -A My House/Gotta Get To Your House" (1965 Liberty 55837)
Songs recorded under the name "David Seville", unless otherwise noted. For a look at The Chipmunks' discography, refer to the Alvin and the Chipmunks discography
Alvin and the Chipmunks discography
-Albums:* 1959: Let's All Sing with The Chipmunks* 1960: Sing Again with The Chipmunks* 1960: Around the World with The Chipmunks* 1961: The Alvin Show* 1962: The Chipmunk Songbook* 1962: Christmas with the Chipmunks...
page.
- "The Trouble with Harry/Little Beauty" (1955 Liberty 55008; recorded under the name "Alfi & Harry")
- "The Word Game Song/Persian on Excursion" (1956 Liberty 55016; recorded under the name "Alfi & Harry")
- "Armen's Theme/Carousel in Rome (1956 Liberty 55041)
- "The Donkey and the Schoolboy"/"The Gift" (1957 Liberty 55055)
- "Safari/Closing Time" (1957 Liberty 55066; recorded under the name "Alfi & Harry")
- "Gotta Get to Your House"/"Camel Rock" (1957 Liberty 55079)
- "Pretty Dark Eyes"/"Cecelia" (1957 Liberty 55105)
- "Baghdad Express"/"Starlight, Starbright" (1957 Liberty 55113)
- "Bonjour Tristesse"/"Dance from Bonjour Tristesse" (1958 Liberty 55124)
- "Witch Doctor"/"Don't Whistle at Me, Baby" (1958 Liberty 55132)
- "The Bird on my Head"/"Hey There Moon" (1958 Liberty 55140)
- "Little Brass Band"/"Take Five" (1958 Liberty 55153)
- "The Mountain"/"Mr. Grape" (1958 Liberty 55163)
- "Oh, Judge, Your Honor, Dear Sir, Sweetheart"/"Freddy, Freddy" (1961 Liberty 55314)
- "Yeah Yeah"/"Lucy Lucy" (1964 Liberty 55679, recorded under the name "The Bedbugs")
- "The Song of Bruce and Dutch"/"I Remember Dillinger" (1968 Liberty 56041; recorded under the name "Bruce & Dutch")
Albums
The Music of David Seville (1957 Liberty 3073)The Witch Doctor Presents: David Seville...and his Friends (1958 Liberty 3092)
The Mixed-up World of Bagdasarian (1966 Liberty 7451; recorded under David Seville's real name, Ross Bagdasarian)
External links
- History area on TheChipmunks.com with some photos and stories about Ross Bagdasarian
- [ Allmusic Entry]
- David Seville Review at Rockabilly