finetune artist: David Seville

b. Ross Bagdasarian, 27 January 1919, Fresno, California, USA, d. 16 January 1972, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. This singer-songwriter, conductor and actor is best remembered as the creator of the Chipmunks. He first appeared on Broadway in the late 30s and was drafted to Britain during the war. His first musical success came in 1951 when a song he had co-written a decade earlier, "Come On-A My House", topped the chart in a version by Rosemary Clooney. He recorded on Coral Records in 1951 and joined Mercury Records two years later. Seville made the UK Top 20 in 1956 under the name Alfi And Harry with "The Trouble With Harry" (inspired by the film of the same name, in which he appeared), and he was successful again later that year with "Armen's Theme" (inspired not by his Armenian descent but by his wife, singer Kay Armen). His biggest "solo" hit came in 1958 with the transatlantic novelty smash "Witch Doctor", which topped the US chart. He extended the idea of a speeded-up voice (as used on that hit) to produce a trio that he called the Chipmunks. They sold millions of records and had a top-rated cartoon television show before he retired them in 1967. After his death in 1972, his son Ross Jnr. brought back the Chipmunks and they have since enjoyed more success on both sides of the Atlantic.

Listen to David Seville at Finetune.

Witch Doctor