Ross Bagdasarian

Bagdasarian{{efn|name=name|Sometimes known as Bagdasarian Sr. to distinguish from his son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. He is listed as Ross S. Bagdasarian in the California Birth Index,"California Birth Index, 1905-1995," database, Ross S Bagdasarian, 27 Jan 1919; citing Fresno, California, United States, Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento. World War II Army Enlistment Records,"United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, Ross S Bagdasarian, enlisted 05 Jan 1942, Fresno, California, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland. and in California Deaths and Burials."California Deaths and Burials, 1776-2000", database, Ross S. Bagdasarian.
William Saroyan, his cousin, gave his full name as Sipon Rostom Bagdasarian.{{cite book|last1=Saroyan|first1=William|author-link1=William Saroyan|title=Obituaries|date=1979|publisher=Creative Arts Book Company|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=9780916870171|page=[https://archive.org/details/obituaries00saro/page/328 328]|quote=...my cousin Sipon Rostom Bagdasarian...|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/obituaries00saro/page/328}} Mark Arnold gives it as Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian.{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=13}} }} was born on January 27, 1919, in Fresno, California to an Armenian-American family.{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=13}} His father was a grape grower. He had two elder brothers: Richard Sirak (1910–1966) and Harry Sisvan (1915–1989).{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=13}} The novelist William Saroyan, with whom he was very close, was his first cousin.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=J. Y. |title=William Saroyan Dies at 72 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/05/19/william-saroyan-dies-at-72/5cad502d-8aca-478d-a53a-9d6156d841ab/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=19 May 1981}}{{cite book |last1=Studwell |first1=William E. |last2=Lonergan |first2=David |author-link1=William Studwell |title=The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from Its Beginnings to the Mid-1970s |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317720683 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=D2ehAwAAQBAJ&dq=Bagdasarian+cousin+william+saroyan&pg=PA177 177]}}

Bagdasarian graduated from Fresno High School in 1937.{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=13}} He went to New York to work with his cousin Saroyan with the intention of becoming an actor.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVFLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36 |title=The Billboard Book of Number One Hits |first= Fred |last=Bronson |date= 1997|isbn=9780823076413 |publisher=Billboard Books|page=36}} When World War II started, he enlisted and served four years as a control tower operator{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=17}} and rose to the rank of a staff sergeant (SSgt) in the Army Air Forces. He spent time in England, France and Spain; his later stage name "David Seville" originated from the fact that he was stationed in the city of Seville in Spain and he liked the city.{{cite news |last1=Blevins |first1=Joe |title=The Dark, Angry Father of 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' |url=https://www.vulture.com/2015/11/the-dark-angry-father-of-alvin-and-the-chipmunks.html |work=New York Magazine |agency=Vulture.com |date=10 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130193449/https://www.vulture.com/2015/11/the-dark-angry-father-of-alvin-and-the-chipmunks.html |archive-date=30 November 2018}}

After the war, he returned to Fresno and married Armenouhi "Armen" Kulhanjian, and they tried for a time to be grape growers. They were unsuccessful and they moved to Los Angeles where he started a career as a songwriter.

Bagdasarian's Broadway debut was in 1939 when he played the newsboy in The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan, his cousin. He also appeared in minor roles in several films, such as Viva Zapata! (1952), Stalag 17 (1953), Destination Gobi (1953), and The Proud and Profane (1956). In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), he is the lonely composer at the piano.

Bagdasarian's first major success with songwriting came with "Come On-a My House", which he co-wrote with William Saroyan in 1939. The song was rejected by many record companies as being "too ethnic", and it was not recorded until 1950 (by Kay Armen). The songwriters themselves recorded it as a duet in 1951. Mitch Miller of Columbia Records came across the song and persuaded Rosemary Clooney to record it. It became a million-selling hit. It is an adaptation of an Armenian folk song Bagdasarian wrote with his cousin William Saroyan.{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Stephen |author-link1=Stephen Holden |title=Pop/Jazz; Clooney and Bennett, Old-School Professionals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/09/arts/pop-jazz-clooney-and-bennett-old-school-professionals.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 9, 1986}}{{cite book|last1=Tyler|first1=Don|title=Music of the Postwar Era|date=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313341915|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2dgJVseZAlsC&dq=Bagdasarian&pg=PA60 60]}} The song was originally composed for their off-Broadway musical The Son.{{cite journal |last1=Gentry |first1=Philip |title=Whiteness and Sex in the Music of Rosemary Clooney |journal=American Music Review |publisher=The H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music, Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York |date=2014 |volume=43 |issue=2 |url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/aca_centers_hitchcock/AMR_43-2_Gentry.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923100756/http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/aca_centers_hitchcock/AMR_43-2_Gentry.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2020 }} It launched Clooney's career, reaching number one on Billboard charts and was number four on

Billboard year-end top 30 singles of 1951.{{cite news|last1=Orozco|first1=Ron|title=Fresno Art Museum show marks 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide|url=http://www.fresnobee.com/entertainment/performing-arts/article19531635.html|work=The Fresno Bee|date=22 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020194934/http://www.fresnobee.com/entertainment/performing-arts/article19531635.html|archive-date=20 October 2017}} The song sold some 750,000 records in a month.{{cite magazine |last1=Ross |first1=Lillian |last2=Gill |first2=Brendan |author-link1=Lillian Ross (journalist) |author-link2=Brendan Gill |title=Everything A Song Ross |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1951/09/08/everything-a-song-ross |magazine=New Yorker |date=8 September 1951}} In 1954, Bagdasarian wrote "Hey, Brother, Pour the Wine", a hit for Dean Martin.

In 1955 Bagdasarian signed with the then newly established Liberty Records. In early 1956 he had a transcontinental hit with the novelty record "The Trouble with Harry" (inspired by the homonymous Hitchcock film) credited to Alfi & Harry,{{cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Uncle Dave |title=Alfi & Harry |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alfi-harry-mn0000992997 |website=allmusic.com |publisher=AllMusic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819181542/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alfi-harry-mn0000992997/biography |archive-date=19 August 2021}}{{cite web |last1=McClement |first1=Ron |title=Ross Bagdasarian, a.k.a. David Seville |url=http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/dseville.htm |website=rockabilly.nl |publisher=BlackCat Rockabilly Europe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317015645/http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/dseville.htm |archive-date=17 March 2020 |date=2001}} although Alfi & Harry was just one person, Bagdasarian himself.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyUJAQAAMAAJ |title= Liberty Records: A History of the Recording Company and Its Stars, 1955-1971 |first= Michael Bryan |last=Kelly |date=1993|page=19 |isbn=9780899507408 |publisher=McFarland }} It reached No. 44 on the Billboard chart{{cite magazine |title=The Top 100 |magazine=Billboard |date=February 4, 1956 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vB4EAAAAMBAJ&q=The+Trouble+with+Harry%22+Alfi+%26+Harry+billboard&pg=PA40 40]}} and was a bigger hit in the United Kingdom reaching No. 15.{{cite web |title=The Trouble With Harry |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/the-trouble-with-harry/ |website=officialcharts.com |publisher=The Official UK Charts Company |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813114837/https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/the-trouble-with-harry/ |archive-date=13 August 2020}}

In 1956, he wrote an instrumental "Armen's Theme" named after his wife. The executives at Liberty Records suggested that he adopt a pseudonym as they thought his name too difficult to pronounce. In December 1956, he charted with his first record credited to his David Seville pseudonym, and "Armen's Theme" reached No. 42 on the Billboard chart.{{cite web |last1=Drake |first1=Howard |title=Armen's Theme By: David Seville |url=https://www.musicvf.com/song.php?title=Armen%27s+Theme+by+David+Seville&id=10937 |website=musicvf.com |publisher=Music VF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819184321/https://www.musicvf.com/song.php?title=Armen%2527s+Theme+by+David+Seville&id=10937 |archive-date=19 August 2021}}

File:Ross Bagdasarian Sr.jpg

Bagdasarian's rise to prominence came with the song "Witch Doctor" in 1958, which was created after he experimented with the speed control on a tape recorder bought with $200 ({{Inflation|US|200|1958|r=-2|fmt=eq}}) from the family savings. Liberty Records released this novelty record under the David Seville name. It is a duet between his real voice and accelerated version. The record went on to become a Billboard number-one single by April 28, 1958, and further established him as a songwriter. It sold 1.5 million copies.

Bagdasarian went on to create his trio of Chipmunks named after the executives of Liberty Records: Simon, Theodore, and Alvin, named for Simon "Si" Waronker, Theodore "Ted" Keep, and Alvin Bennett.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/chipmunk-song-turns-60-secrets-a-holiday-classic-1169762/|website=The Hollywood Reporter|title="The Chipmunk Song" Turns 60: Secrets of a Holiday Novelty Smash|first=Stephen|last=Cox|date=December 21, 2018|accessdate=December 11, 2021}} Their debut song, "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" was released on November 17, 1958, and became a number one hit by New Years Day.{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |author-link1=Jerry Beck |title=The Animated Movie Guide |date=2005 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck/page/53 53]}} The song sold 4 million records in the first few months. It topped Billboard charts the two weeks before and two weeks after New Years and won three Grammy Awards at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards on May 4, 1959: Best Recording for Children, Best Comedy Performance, and Best Non-Classical Engineered Song.{{cite news |last1=Dessem |first1=Matthew |title=A Look Back at the Most Legendary Grammy Wins of All Time |url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/02/a-look-back-at-the-greatest-grammy-winners-ever.html |work=Slate |date=12 February 2017}} Bagdasarian won the first two as David Seville. The song was the 23rd most performed Christmas song of the 20th century.According to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. {{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=The Christmas Encyclopedia |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476605739 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OSuXAAAAQBAJ&dq=David+Seville+bagdasarian&pg=PA71 71] |edition=3rd}}

Shana Alexander, writing for Life magazine in 1959, noted that Bagdasarian was the first case in the "annals of popular music that one man has served as writer, composer, publisher, conductor and multiple vocalist of a hit record, thereby directing all possible revenues from the song back into his pocket." Alexander also found it remarkable that Bagdasarian "can neither read nor write music nor play any musical instrument in the accepted sense of the word."{{cite magazine |last1=Alexander |first1=Shana |title=Alvin! Composer's yells at son inspire another chipmunk hit |magazine=Life |date=23 March 1959 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=EFIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA43 43-44]|author-link=Shana Alexander}} 23 March 1959 Bagdasarian owned Chipmunk Enterprises, which sponsored Chipmunk-related sales. By 1963, some 15 companies were using or planned to use Alvin figures. By that year, Billboard magazine estimated the total income from the Chipmunks' record sales (including overseas sales) and record club sales to be around $20 million (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|20,000,000|1963|r=-6}}}} adjusted for inflation in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars).{{cite magazine |title=Alvin Plunges Into Side Lines |magazine=Billboard |date=6 April 1963 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MQoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Bagdasarian&pg=PA16 16]}}

In the following years, the Chipmunks released several hit songs: "Alvin's Harmonica" (1959), "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (1959), "Alvin's Orchestra" (1960), "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (1960), "The Alvin Twist" (1962), and the album The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits in 1964 during the British Invasion.

Bagdasarian produced The Alvin Show, a half-hour TV cartoon show broadcast on CBS from October 1961 to September 1962.

In 1968, Alvin and the Chipmunks recorded a version of "The Chipmunk Song" with the rock band Canned Heat, who also recorded for Liberty Records.

Bagdasarian married Armenouhi "Armen" Kulhanjian (1927–1991) in 1946.{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=25}}{{efn|She was widely referred to, including by Bagdasarian,{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=18}} as "Armen".{{cite news |last1=Ryon |first1=Ruth |author1-link=Ruth Ryon |title=Arnolds Seek More Space |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-01-re-52672-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 1, 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829163420/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-01-re-52672-story.html |archive-date=29 August 2021 |quote=The home had been owned by the late Armen Bagdasarian, widow of songwriter Ross S. Bagdasarian Sr....}}{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Lawrence |last2=Gifford |first2=Barry |author2-link=Barry Gifford |title=Saroyan: A Biography |date=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520213999 |page=250 |quote=At the second wedding, left to right, Ross and Armen Bagdasarian...}}}} They had three children: Carol Askine (b. 1947), an actress; Ross Jr. (b. 1949); and Adam Serak (b. 1954), a fiction writer.{{sfn|Arnold|2019|p=25}} They lived in Los Angeles from 1950. As of 1963, he owned a grape ranch in California called the Chipmunk Ranch. In the mid-1960s, he bought Sierra Wine Corp., a winery that supplied product, among others, to E & J Gallo Winery.

Bagdasarian died of a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills on January 16, 1972, eleven days before his 53rd birthday. He was cremated and inurned at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476625997 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&dq=Chapel+of+the+Pines+Crematory+Bagdasarian&pg=PA36 36] |edition=3rd}}

Bagdasarian willed the Chipmunks franchise to his wife and three children. Ross Jr. said in an interview that he "worshipped" his father and felt a need to continue his work. He resumed the franchise with his wife Janice Karman in the late 1970s, after finishing law school, and became the complete owner when he bought the rights from his siblings in the mid-1990s.

{{See also|Alvin and the Chipmunks discography}}

• The Music of David Seville (1957 Liberty 3073)
• The Witch Doctor Presents: David Seville...and his Friends (1958 Liberty 3092)
• Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks (1959 Liberty 3132)
• Sing Again with the Chipmunks (1960 Liberty)
• Around the World with the Chipmunks (1960 Liberty Records)
• The Alvin Show (1961 Liberty Records/Capitol)
• The Chipmunk Songbook (1962 Capitol/Liberty)
• Christmas with the Chipmunks (1962 Liberty)
• Christmas with the Chipmunks Vol. 2 (1963 Liberty Records)
• The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits (1964 Sunset/Liberty; as Alvin and the Chipmunks with David Seville)
• Chipmunks à Go-Go (1965 Liberty 3424; as Alvin, Simon and Theodore with David Seville)
• The Mixed-up World of Bagdasarian (1966 Liberty 7451; recorded under David Seville's real name, Ross Bagdasarian)

• The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) as Spectator (uncredited)
• Viva Zapata! (1952) as Officer (uncredited)
• The Stars Are Singing (1953) as Song Promoter (uncredited)
• Destination Gobi (1953) as Paul Sabatello
• The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953) as Marine (uncredited)
• Stalag 17 (1953) as Singing Prisoner of War (uncredited)
• Alaska Seas (1954) as Joe, Jim's crewman
• Rear Window (1954) as Songwriter/pianist
• Kismet (1955) as Fevvol (uncredited)
• Hot Blood (1956) as Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
• The Proud and Profane (1956) as Louie
• Three Violent People (1956) as Asuncion Ortega
• The Devil's Hairpin (1957) as Tani Ritter
• The Deep Six (1958) as Pvt. Aaron Slobodjian
• The Alvin Show (1961–1962, TV Series) as Alvin, Simon, Theodore and David Seville (voice, final appearance)

• Armenian Americans in Los Angeles

;Notes

{{notelist}}

;Citations

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite news|title=Ross Bagdasarian, Actor, Song Writer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/19/archives/ross-bagdasarian-i-actor-song-writer.html?_r=0|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|date=19 January 1972|url-access=subscription}}

{{cite book|author1=Our Boys Committee|title=Armenian-American Veterans of World War II|date=1951|publisher=Armenian General Benevolent Union of America|location=New York|page=[https://i.imgur.com/3HENs84.jpg 173]|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015029136465;view=1up;seq=188}}

{{cite book|last1=Talevski|first1=Nick|title=Rock Obituaries: Knocking On Heaven's Door|date=2010|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9780857121172|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DykffzkFALoC&dq=Ross+Bagdasarian+armenian+fresno+1919&pg=PA582 582]|chapter=David Seville}}

{{cite news|last1=Pearson|first1=Ryan|title=Chipmunks legacy is a family affair|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-dec-21-et-chipmunks21-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|agency=Associated Press|date=21 December 2007 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922151746/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/21/entertainment/et-chipmunks21 |archive-date=22 September 2018}}

{{cite news|last1=Bentley|first1=Rick|title=Fresno native's chipmunks charm 3 generations|url=http://www.fresnobee.com/living/article19502448.html|work=The Fresno Bee|date=21 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020090610/http://www.fresnobee.com/living/article19502448.html|archive-date=20 October 2017}}

{{cite journal|last1=Dougherty|first1=Steve|first2=Craig|last2=Tomashoff|title=Squeak of Success|journal=People|date=22 February 1993|url=http://people.com/archive/squeak-of-success-vol-39-no-7/}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20171023143312/http://people.com/archive/squeak-of-success-vol-39-no-7/ archived])

{{cite news|last1=Adams|first1=Cecil|author-link1=Cecil Adams|title=How were the high-pitched voices of the Chipmunks created?|url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/376/how-were-the-high-pitched-voices-of-the-chipmunks-created|work=Chicago Reader|agency=The Straight Dope|date=17 January 1986}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20171029111224/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/376/how-were-the-high-pitched-voices-of-the-chipmunks-created archived])

{{cite news|title=Today in 1959: First Grammy Awards handed out|url=http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2009/05/today-in-1959-first-grammy-awards-handed-out-.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=4 May 2009}}

}}

• {{cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=Mark |author1-link=Mark Arnold (historian) |title=Aaaaalllviiinnn!: The Story of Ross Bagdasarian Sr., Liberty Records, Format Films and The Alvin Show |date=2019 |publisher=BearManor Media |isbn=978-1-62933-432-5}}

• {{IMDb name|46564|Ross Bagdasarian}}
• {{IBDB name|94029}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040803054054/http://thechipmunks.com/history.php History area on TheChipmunks.com] with some photos and stories about Ross Bagdasarian
• [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p227|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic Entry]
• {{discogs artist|Ross Bagdasarian}}
• [http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/dseville.htm David Seville Review at Rockabilly]

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{{s-bef|rows=3|before=Created}}

{{s-ttl|title= President of Bagdasarian Productions|years= 1961–1972}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Owner of Alvin and the Chipmunks|years=1958–1972}}

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{{succession box | before = Created| title= Voice of Dave Seville | years = 1958–1972| after=Ross Bagdasarian Jr.}}

{{succession box | before = Created | title = Voice of Alvin & The Chipmunks | years= 1958–1972 | after= Ross Bagdasarian Jr.}}

{{succession box | before = Created| title= Voice of Alvin Seville | years = 1958–1972| after= Ross Bagdasarian Jr.}}

{{succession box | before = Created |title= Voice of Simon Seville | years = 1958–1972| after=Ross Bagdasarian Jr.}}

{{succession box | before = Created| title= Voice of Theodore Seville | years = 1958–1972| after=Janice Karman}}

{{s-end}}

{{Alvin and the Chipmunks}}

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{{Grammy Award for Best Children's Album}}

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