Ian Hawke

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Pop
Years active	1958–1972 1979–present
Labels	Liberty, London, Capitol, RCA, Sony, Quality, Atlantic, Rhino, Republic, Geffen, Columbia, Chipmunk Records
Associated acts	The Chipettes
Website	Official website
Members	Alvin Seville Simon Seville Theodore Seville

Alvin and The Chipmunks
The Alvin Show (1961–1962) Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983–1990) Film Series (2007–) ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks (2015–) character
First appearance	1958–present
Created by	Ross Bagdasarian Sr.
Portrayed by	Ross Bagdasarian Jr. See Film Series
Voiced by	Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (Alvin Show Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (2015 & 1983)
Present Episode(s)	ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks
Information
Aliases	Alvin, Simon & Theodore
Species	Chipmunks
Gender	Males
Occupation	Singers Friends to The Chipettes
Family	Dave Seville The Chipettes
Relatives	See TV Series Film Series
Nationality	American

Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., for a novelty record in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual; and Theodore, the chubby, impressionable one. The trio is managed by their human adoptive father, David (Dave) Seville. In reality, "David Seville" was Bagdasarian's stage name, and the Chipmunks themselves are named after the executives of their original record label. The characters became a success, and the singing Chipmunks and their manager were given life in several animated cartoon productions, using redrawn, anthropomorphic chipmunks, and eventually films.

The voices of the group were all performed by Bagdasarian, who sped up the playback to create high-pitched voices. This oft-used process was not entirely new to Bagdasarian, who had also used it for two previous novelty songs, including "Witch Doctor", but it was so unusual and well-executed it earned the record two Grammy Awards for engineering. Bagdasarian, performing as the Chipmunks, released a long line of albums and singles, with "The Chipmunk Song" becoming a number-one single in the United States. After the death of Bagdasarian in 1972, the characters' voices were performed by his son Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and the latter's wife Janice Karman in the subsequent incarnations of the 1980s and 1990s.

In the 2007 CGI/live-action film adaptation and its 2009 sequel, they were voiced in dialogue by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney. Bagdasarian, Jr. and Karman continue to perform the singing voices for Alvin, Theodore and the Chipettes, but Steve Vining does Simon's singing voice. The project has earned five Grammy awards, an American Music Award, a Golden Reel Award, and three Kids' Choice Awards, and has been nominated for three Emmy awards.

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Wikipedia