Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. (born 1949) is an American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist. He is the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise creator and renaissance man Ross Bagdasarian (a.k.a. David Seville). Bagdasarian succeeded his father as the main owner-figure of the Chipmunks franchise, which had fallen into obscurity after significant success in the late-1950s and early-1960s, and also heads Bagdasarian Productions with his wife Janice Karman to handle management of the characters and the production of their albums.
Under his supervision, new Chipmunks records were created in the late-1970s and early-1980s, including Chipmunk Punk. In 1981, the Chipmunks returned to television in the special A Chipmunk Christmas. Two years later, Ruby-Spears Productions' Alvin and the Chipmunks Saturday morning cartoon series debuted on NBC. A feature film based on the series, The Chipmunk Adventure, was released in 1987.
For these new Chipmunks productions, Bagdasarian provides the singing and speaking voices of Alvin, Simon, and Dave Seville; Janice Karman provides those of Theodore and The Chipettes; Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor. The voices are recorded at a regular tone and sped up electronically to create the trademark Chipmunks sound.
Bagdasarian sold the rights to the Chipmunk characters to Universal Pictures in 1996, resulting in a string of Universal-produced direct-to-video films. Four years later, he sued them for breach of contract, in order to recoup monetary damages and regain control of the characters.
Currently, Bagdasarian is producing a live-action film version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, featuring computer-animated Chipmunks, and a live-action David Seville. It is reportedly in development by 20th Century Fox, and scheduled to be released in theatres around 2007.
