History 'Witch Doctor' (1958) Main article: Witch Doctor 1.12 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015).1.11 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011).1.10 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009).1.8 Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks (2003).1.4 Dell Comics and Harvey Classics (1959-1994).

and Janice Karman in all subsequent incarnations except for the four CGI/live-action films, when they were voiced by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney. Since Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.'s passing on January 16, 1972, their voices were performed by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Although the characters were fictional, they did release a long line of actual albums and singles, with ' The Chipmunk Song' becoming a number-one hit single in the United States. This often-used process was also not entirely new to Bagdasarian, who had also used it for two previous novelty song projects, including ' Witch Doctor,' but it was so unusual and well executed it earned the trio two Grammy Awards for engineering. The voices of the group were all performed by Bagdasarian, who sped up the playback to create higher pitched, comical, squeaky voices. 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 picture. The puppets looked similar to the chipmunk illustrations on the covers of some of the group's 45 RPM records. For stage purposes, such as during an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Bagdasarian lip-synced the words of 'David Seville' in front of a small puppet theater, with puppets of the three Chipmunks also lip-syncing. The Chipmunks act began with recordings first brought to life in Bagdasarian's 1950s novelty recordings under the name David Seville and the Chipmunks. 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:Īlvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).

The trio is managed by their human father and confidant, David Seville. The group consists of three singing animated chipmunks:Īlvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual Theodore, the chubby, impressionable sweetheart. For other uses, see Alvin and the Chipmunks (disambiguation).Īlvin and the Chipmunks is a 6-time Grammy award-winning animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. This article is about the sing-along group.

Alvin chipmunk