#Simon alvin and the chipmunks how to#
#Simon alvin and the chipmunks series#

It also earned three Grammy Awards and a nomination for Record of the Year. It spent four weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart from December 22, 1958, to January 12, 1959, succeeding ' To Know Him Is to Love Him' at Number 1 on the same chart by the Teddy Bears, a pop group that featured Phil Spector. The novelty record was highly successful, selling more than 4 million copies in seven weeks, and it launched the careers of its chipmunk stars. One phrase in the chorus has Alvin wishing for a hula hoop, which was that year's hot new toy. The song, originally listed on the record label (Liberty F-55168) as 'The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)', featured the singing skills of the chipmunk trio. The Chipmunks first officially appeared on the scene in a novelty record released in late fall 1958 by Bagdasarian. Alvin (named after Al Bennett), Simon (named after Si Waronker), and Theodore ( Ted Keep). He then came up with three singing chipmunks who were named, as an inside joke, after executives at Liberty Records. Main article: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)Īfter the success of 'Witch Doctor', Liberty Records asked Bagdasarian to create another successful novelty record. The technique was imitated by Sheb Wooley's ' The Purple People Eater' and The Big Bopper's 'The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor'. That moment inspired him to create his chipmunk characters. While driving in Sequoia National Park, Bagdasarian saw a chipmunk dash in front of him. It also reached the Top 40, peaking at No. Bagdasarian performed the song 'live' (with a pre-recorded track of the pitched-up voice) on The Ed Sullivan Show.īagdasarian (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. Bagdasarian did record a Chipmunks version of ' Witch Doctor', which appeared on the second Chipmunks album, Sing Again with the Chipmunks, in 1960. Nothing makes any reference to chipmunks, but the song is sometimes included on Chipmunk compilations as if the Chipmunks had provided the voice of the Witch Doctor. The song was a hit, holding number one for three weeks in the Billboard Top 100 chart. The words themselves are nonsense: 'Oo-ee, oo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla, bing-bang'. 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.

#Simon alvin and the chipmunks how to#

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. In 2019, The Chipmunks received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

#Simon alvin and the chipmunks series#

The characters have since featured in several television series and films, as well as other media. The Chipmunks were first depicted in animated form in The Alvin Show (1961). 'The Chipmunk Song' became one of the best-selling singles of all time at 5 million physical copies sold. It has garnered two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and won five Grammy Awards, having four Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and three certified platinum albums. Through the successful franchise, the Chipmunks have become one of the most successful children's artists of all time. The franchise was revived in 1979 with the characters' voices provided by his son Ross Bagdasarian Jr. David Seville and the Chipmunks released several more records over the following decade until Bagdasarian's death in 1972. Later in 1957 Bagdasarian released the similarly-engineered ' The Chipmunk Song' for which he came up with the chipmunk characters and their human father, attributing the track to them. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore who are originally managed by their human adoptive father, David 'Dave' Seville.īagdasarian provided the group's voices by producing sped-up recordings of his own, a technique pioneered on the successful ' Witch Doctor'. Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958.