David Seville

Ross S. Bagdasarian (/bæɡdəˈsɛəriən/; January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), also known by his stage name David Seville, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor best known for creating the cartoon band Alvin and the Chipmunks. Initially a stage and film actor, he rose to prominence in 1958 with the songs "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which both became Billboard number-one singles. He produced and directed The Alvin Show, which aired on CBS in 1961–62.

Bagdasarian was born on January 27, 1919, in Fresno, California, to an Armenian-American family. His father was a grape grower. He had two elder brothers: Richard Sirak (1910–1966) and Harry Sisvan (1915–1989). The novelist William Saroyan, with whom he was very close, was his first cousin.

Bagdasarian graduated from Fresno High School in 1937. He went to New York to work with his cousin Saroyan, intending to become an actor. When World War II started, he enlisted and served four years as a control tower operator 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.

After the war, he returned to Fresno, 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), and Destination Gobi (1953). In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), he is the lonely composer at the piano. Acting in The Proud and Profane (1956), he also composed and performed the tie-in song The Ballad of Colin Black.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.