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.

This oft-used process was not entirely new to Bagdasarian, who had also used it for two previous novelty songs, including " Witch Doctor ", but it was so unusual and well-executed it earned the record two Grammy Awards for engineering.

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.

According to their creator, Janice Karman, she and Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., "... had been doing the albums at that point ... We couldn't do the girl songs.

Bagdasarian also added in reference to the Chipettes characters, " It enables you to deal with issues that girls are going through that boys wouldn't necessarily be dealing with ... We had a baby girl at the time.

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.

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.

The first Chipmunk record, " The Chipmunk Song ", had Bagdasarian doing all the voices.

The Chipmunks ' recordings had the performers often labeled as " David Seville and the Chipmunks " and the composer typically listed as " Bagdasarian.

Ross Bagdasarian had died of a heart attack in January 1972, precluding any future Chipmunk activity.

After his father's untimely death in 1972 ( Ross Sr. was found dead of a heart attack ), Bagdasarian succeeded him as the main owner of the Chipmunks productions, which had fallen into obscurity after significant success between 1958 and the late 1960s.

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.

* January 16 – Ross Bagdasarian, composer, creator of The Alvin Show

* 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.

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

After the death of Ross Bagdasarian in 1972 from a heart attack, the Chipmunks ' careers stalled until NBC showed interest in the original show ( the network carried Saturday morning reruns of The Alvin Show as a midseason replacement in 1979 ) and the following year, Excelsior Records released a new album of contemporary songs performed by the Chipmunks.

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 Alvin Show ( Bagdasarian Film Corporation )

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

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

Bagdasarian ( again as Seville ) recorded a follow-up song, " The Bird on My Head ", singing a duet with his own sped-up voice as the bird.

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

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

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 /

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.

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

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 .).

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.

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.

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.

* 1919 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American musician ( d. 1972 )

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

* January 27 – Ross Bagdasarian, American musician and actor ( Alvin and the Chipmunks ) ( d. 1972 )

* January 16 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American record producer ( Alvin and the Chipmunks ) ( b. 1919 )

* Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. & Janice Karman

* 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 "

Domenico Modugno, Henry Mancini, Ella Fitzgerald and Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. each won 2 awards.

** 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 "