Rostom Sipan "Ross" Bagdasarian was an actor and musician known for his appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window." He was making novelty records in the late '50s when he bought a tape recorder that allowed him to vary tape speed and released the song "Witch Doctor" in 1958. It reached No. 1.
That fall, he released "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)," which marked the debut of his chipmunk trio.
The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held in 1959 and the song won three Grammys: best comedy performance, best engineered record (non-classical) and best recording for children. It also reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, the only Chipmunks song to do so, and stayed there for four weeks.
(Sourece: Los Angeles Times and Billboard)
He named the three chipmunks Simon, Theodore, and Alvin, after three record executives, and gave them a human caretaker named David Seville, Bagdasarian's stage name. Bagdasarian voiced all three chipmunks and the human David for much of his career. He also started Bagdasarian Productions to handle the Chipmunks franchise.
The chipmunk trio was first animated in 1961 for a short-lived TV series called "The Alvin Show," which lasted about a year. Bagdasarian voiced all of the characters and continued to release albums under the Chipmunks moniker, including a Beatles cover album.
(Source: Billboard)
Bagdasarian released his final album, "The Chipmunks Go to the Movies," in 1969. He died in January 1972 and the Chipmunks were out of commission until Bagdasarian's son, Ross Jr., decided to revive them in the late '70s.
(Source: LA Times)
According to the family, they released "Chipmunk Punk" after a radio DJ sped up a Blondie song and called it the "Chipmunks version." From there, they released other records and created another cartoon in the mid-'80s. Ross Jr. voiced Alvin, Simon, and David, while his wife, Janice Karman, voiced Theodore and the Chipettes, the girl version of the Chipmunks.
(Source: LA Times)
"A Chipmunk Christmas" was the franchise's first television special and aired in 1981. This was followed by the debut of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in 1983. The animated series ran through 1987 before changing its name to "The Chipmunks" in 1988. Its final season, called "The Chipmunks Go to the Movies," aired in 1990. The series was joined by numerous TV specials.
The Chipmunks made their feature-film debut in 1987's "The Chipmunk Adventure." A direct-to-video film followed in 1999.
In 1996, Ross Jr. bought the rights from his siblings to take total control of the company, along with his wife.
(Source: Bloomberg)
In 1996, Bagdasarian Productions and Universal signed a deal for the characters to appear in theme parks, as well as further licensing ventures and projects. The deal also gave Universal a 35-percent equity interest in Bagdasarian Productions. Under Universal, two direct-to-video films were released between 1999 and 2000.
(Source: New York Times)
In 2000, Bagdasarian Productions, led by Ross Jr., sued Universal Studios for $100 million claiming that the studio hadn't followed through with its licensing agreement. Ross Jr. claimed that this destroyed "an American icon."
Bagdasarian Productions later regained control of the characters.
(Source: New York Times)
Alvin, Theodore, and Simon returned to the big screen in 2007 with "Alvin and the Chipmunks," the first combination live-action/animated film in the franchise's history.
Bagdasarian Productions sued Fox in 2010 asking for half of the profits from 2009's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel."
The lawsuit covered alleged copyright infringement, agreement breaches, if producer payment was separate from royalties, and if Fox received enough when it licensed the movies to HBO and FX.
The suit was officially settled in 2014, largely ruling in Fox's favor.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
The Chipmunks have returned to the big screen for the fourth time with "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip," which opened against "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" December 18.
The film grossed $14.3 million in its opening weekend, taking No. 2 at the domestic box office. That number adds to the previous films' gross of $1.147 billion worldwide.
(Source: Forbes)
