* 1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. ( David Seville ), American actor ( b. 1919 )

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 ( better known as David Seville, the father figure of Alvin and the Chipmunks ), which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me " ( a cover version of the Italian song Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina by Alberto Rabagliati ), " Mambo Italiano ", " Tenderly ", " Half as Much ", " Hey There " and " This Ole House ", although she had success as a jazz vocalist.

* January 27-Ross Bagdasarian ( aka David Seville ), of The Chipmunks ( d. 1972 )

** Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. for " The Chipmunk Song ", performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as " David Seville and the Chipmunks "

** Ross Bagdasarian Sr. for " The Chipmunk Song ( Christmas Don't Be Late )" performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as " David Seville and the Chipmunks "

** Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. for " The Chipmunk Song ", performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as " David Seville and the Chipmunks "

** Ross Bagdasarian Sr. for Let's All Sing With the Chipmunks performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as " David Seville and the Chipmunks "

In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. released a novelty song ( as David Seville ) about being unsuccessful at love until he found a witch doctor who told him how to woo his woman.

The cartoon gave more distinctive looks and personalities to the three chipmunks than just their voices, and an animated portrayal of Seville was a reasonable caricature of Bagdasarian himself.

As David Seville, Bagdasarian had a number-one hit in the summer of 1958 with " Witch Doctor " which was his first experiment with speeding an audio track to get a distinctive, squeaky, high-pitched voice.

Following his hit records, Bagdasarian provided the voice for the David Seville and Alvin 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.

* Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. – ( 1919 – 1972, better known as " David Seville ") creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Years later, his son Ross, Jr. picked up on a disc jockey's joke and produced the hit Chipmunk Punk album in 1980, which spurred new interest for a brand new animated series with an updated look to The Chipmunks and David Seville ( now voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr .).

* Ross Bagdasarian, Sr .-Alvin, Simon, Theodore, David Seville, Sam Valiant

It was founded in 1961 as Bagdasarian Film Corporation, which was owned and founded by the late Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. ( also known as David Seville ).

In 2007, Bagdasarian produced the movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks, based on the cartoon and featuring computer-animated Chipmunks and a live-action David Seville, portrayed by Jason Lee.

Bagdasarian was originally set to portray David Seville ; however, due to his age ( 58 at the time of filming ), the younger Lee was chosen.

* Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. as David " Dave " Seville, the adoptive father of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, Dave is a songwriter who has his hands full keeping track of Alvin's doings.

Bagdasarian recorded vocals and music at different speeds to combine properly on his recording.

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.

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 Mixed-up World of Bagdasarian ( 1966 Liberty 7451 ; recorded under David Seville's real name, Ross Bagdasarian )

One of the major acts who recorded on Liberty Records was The Chipmunks, actually Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who recorded as David Seville.

Pinky and Perky spoke and sang in high-pitched voices created by re-playing original voice recordings at twice the original recorded speed ; the vocals were sung by Mike Sammes while the backing track was played at half normal speed ( Sammes did the same job for Ken Dodd's Diddymen, as Ross Bagdasarian did for the original Chipmunks in the early 1960s )-hence the expression " Pinky and Perky speed ", when an LP record is played at 45 rpm or 78 rpm instead of the correct 33⅓ rpm.

The song was done by Bagdasarian in his normal voice, except for the " magic " words, done first in Bagdasarian's pitched-up, pre-Chipmunk voice, then in a duet between his pitched-up voice and his normal voice.

At the height of its popularity, Bagdasarian and 3 chipmunk hand-puppets appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, lip-synching the song.

Bagdasarian portrays a piano-playing songwriter who composes, plays, and sings the song " Lisa ".

The title song for was cowritten by Mickey Rooney and Ross Bagdasarian, the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The song was written by Ross Bagdasarian and his cousin, noted Armenian American writer William Saroyan in the summer of 1939 ; however, the song did not become a hit until the release of Clooney's recording.

The composers performed the song themselves – Bagdasarian singing, Saroyan offering occasional narration – for Coral Records.

Bagdasarian also performs the song on his album The Mixed-Up World of Ross Bagdasarian and Alvin and the Chipmunks sang it for their Thanksgiving episodem " A Chipmunk Celebration ".

Bagdasarian Productions films have also aired on Disney Channel, although most of them are not presently owned by Disney, including The Chipmunk Adventure, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, Spirited Away and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

* Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., creator of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, outright refused to utilize a laugh track when production began on The Alvin Show ( CBS, 1961 – 62 ) in 1961.

Bagdasarian did record a " Chipmunks " version of " Witch Doctor ", which appeared on the second Chipmunks album, Sing Again with The Chipmunks, in 1960.

The Chipmunks first officially appeared on the scene in a novelty record released in late fall 1958 by Bagdasarian.

In 1987, during the fifth season of the show on television, the Chipmunks had their first animated feature film, The Chipmunk Adventure, directed by Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., and released to theaters by The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

In 2005, Bagdasarian Productions struck a deal with Paramount Home Video to distribute their latest direct-to-video release, Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks on DVD.

* Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. on their inspiration for creating the Chipettes — http :// www. mediavillage. com / jmentr / 2006 / 09 / 11 / Jacki-09-11-06 /

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.

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.

Bagdasarian was found dead of a heart attack on January 16, 1972, eleven days before his 53rd birthday ; he was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California.

* History area on TheChipmunks. com with some photos and stories about Ross Bagdasarian

The focus of Bagdasarian Productions company is on creating albums, cartoons, and other products based on the Alvin and the Chipmunks characters, who were created by Bagdasarian's father Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.

After the success of his animated cartoon series on NBC, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. began developing a concept for a full-length feature film.

Fortunately for Bagdasarian Productions, the box-office failure of Disney's The Black Cauldron in 1985 had led to the layoff of a number of Disney animators, whom Bagdasarian promptly hired to work on his film.

During the 1950s, Keep provided the synchronization process that allowed Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. to combine his speed-doubled voice technique with full orchestration on " Witch Doctor " and the series of Chipmunks recordings.