Now that I have told you all about David Seville, here is a little about Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Chipmunks were the creation of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. Bagdasarian went by the stage name of David Seville. He created three Chipmunks and named them after the executives of Liberty Records (the original record label). They were: Alvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).

The Chipmunks were a huge success and had a number of recordings. Unfortunately, Bagdasarian died unexpectedly in 1958. His son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. took over in 1980 as David Seville and the Chipmunks have appeared in numerous cartoons, movies and albums. The voices for the Chipmunks are voiced by Bagdasarian, Jr. and his wife, Janice expect for the 2007 film were the Chipmunk voices were provided by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney. This film marked the only time that a Bagdasarian did not provide any of the voices.

The technique used for the Chipmunk voices is now called chipmunk-voiced. The technique involved recording the voice onto audiotape at half the normal speed. When the tape is played back at double speed, the voice appears a full octave higher in pitch, but at normal tempo. This technique was also used for the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz.

After watching many clips from YouTube on my laptop computer of the Chipmunks, this one is my favorite from the original cartoon series: