Alvin And The Chipmunks Profile
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a five-time Grammy Award-winning animated music group, created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual; and Theodore, the chubby, impressionable sweetheart. The trio is "managed" by their human "father" and confidant, David Seville. In reality, David Seville was Bagdasarian's stage name, and the Chipmunks themselves are named after the executives of their original record label, Liberty Records: Alvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).
The Chipmunks act began with recordings, first brought to life in Bagdasarian's 1950s novelty recordings under the name David Seville and the Chipmunks. For stage purposes, such as The Ed Sullivan Show, Bagdasarian lip-synched the words of "David Seville", in front of a small puppet "theater", with vaguely realistic-looking puppets of the three Chipmunks also "lip-synching", looking similar to the vaguely-realistic looking Chipmunk illustrations on the covers of some of the 45 RPM records. The characters were an unprecedented success, and the singing Chipmunks and their manager were given life in several animated cartoon series, using redrawn, anthropomorphic chipmunks, and eventually motion pictures.
The voices of the group were all performed by Bagdasarian, who sped up the playback to create higher pitched, squeaky voices. This oft-used process was also not entirely new to Bagdasarian, who had also used it for a previous novelty song project, "The Witch Doctor", but it was so unusual and well executed it earned the "trio" two Grammy Awards for engineering. Although the characters were fictional, they did release a long line of "real" albums and singles, with "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" becoming a number-one hit single in the United States. Since Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.'s death in January 16, 1972, their voices were performed by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman in all subsequent incarnations except for the 2007 CGI/live-action film adaptation, when they were voiced by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney respectively.
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Alvin and the Chipmunks Official site of Alvin and the Chipmunks features a history of the Chipmunks and the famous "Chipmunk Song," character bios, games, DVDs, and other goodies.
Alvin and the Chipmunks (Movie) Official site of the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, the live-action/CGI film based on the popular kids' musical group and animated series in the '60s and '80s. Starring Jason Lee as Dave Seville. Directed by Tim Hill.
Alvin and the Chipmunks - Wikipedia Detailed overview of Alvin and the Chipmunks includes info about the success of the songs, cartoons, and movies.
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - IMDb Cast/character credits, message board, and production details for the 2007 live-action/CGI movie Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Alvin and the Chipmunks For generations,the singing sensations known as Alvin and the Chipmunks have delighted audiences with their whimsical vocal arrangements: This production,starring Jason
