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Alvin & the Chipmunks Facts

Alvin & the Chipmunks are a fictional group of chipmunks who sing songs and perform. In the story, they are managed by a human, David Seville. The concept was originally intended to showcase novelty records in the late 1950s from Ross Bagdasarian, famous for his "Witch Doctor" song. However, the group was such as success, it prompted dozens of records, a number of cartoon shows and movies, and a live action feature film.

  1. Significance

    • The fictional group of Alvin & the Chipmunks have won five Grammy Awards and a single American Music Award.

    Fun Fact

    • Each of the Chipmunks are named after music executives from Liberty Records, the original record label: Alvin Bennett, Simon Waronker and Theodore Keep.

    Live Shows

    • During the 1950s, Ross Bagdasarian performed the recordings of the Chipmunks lip-synching to prerecorded music. Bagdasarian played the role of David Seville, while hand puppets represented the Chipmunks.

    Features

    • Each voice on the records was originally sung by Bagdasarian. He used an engineering technique that sped up the voice track. After he died in 1972, a number of artists picked up the reigns of Alvin & the Chipmunks.

    First Song

    • The first Alvin & the Chipmunks song was "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)." It sold over four million copies and spent four weeks at number one according to the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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