Alvin and the Chipmunks facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alvin and the Chipmunks
Background information
Origin	Fresno, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop, dance, hip hop, country, children's music
Years active	1958–1972 1979–present
Labels	Liberty, RCA, Sony Wonder, Quality, Chipmunk, Atlantic
Members	Alvin Seville Simon Seville Theodore Seville

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group. It was created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group is made up of three animated chipmunks who sing and talk. They are Alvin, Simon and Theodore. The trio is managed by a fictional man named Dave Seville, who adopted the chipmunks. 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 were recreated in animated cartoons and eventually movies.

The voices of the group were all done by Bagdasarian. He recorded his voice and then sped up the playback to create high-pitched voices. It was so unusual and well-done that it earned the record two Grammy Awards for musical engineering. Bagdasarian, performing as the Chipmunks, released a long series of albums and singles. Bagdasarian died in 1972. The characters were revived in the 1980s and 1990s, with the voices being performed by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and his wife Janice Karman.

A computer-animated movie based on the characters was released in 2007, called Alvin and the Chipmunks. It had three sequels: one in 2009, one in 2011 and one in 2015. The actors Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney performed the talking voices of the Chipmunks. Bagdasarian, Jr. and Karman performed 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.

Main characters

• David "Dave" Seville is a the adoptive father of the Chipmunks. He is a human. In the movies, he is played by Jason Lee.
• Ian Hawke is the Chipmunks and Chipettes former nemesis and Dave's former arch-rival, he is played by David Cross.
• Alvin is the lead singer of the Chipmunks. He is the oldest of his brothers. In the movies, he is voiced by Justin Long. His singing voice is done by Ross Bagdasarian
• Simon is a the middle brother. He is a very intelligent chipmunk. Matthew Gray Gubler voiced Simon in the animated movie series. His singing voice is done by Steve Vining.
• Theodore is the youngest of his brothers. In the movies, he is voiced by Jesse McCartney. His singing voice is done by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
• The Chipettes is a girl group of chipmunks. It is made up of Brittany (voiced by Christina Applegate in the movies), Jeanette (voiced by Anna Faris) and Eleanor (voiced by Amy Poehler in the second and third films and Kaley Cuoco in a fourth film).
• Agent James Suggs is the Chipmunks nemesis of U.S. Air Marshal, he is played by Tony Hale.

Other characters

• Claire Wilson, played by Cameron Richardson
• Gail, played by Jane Lynch
• Toby Seville, played by Zachary Levi
• Zoe, played by Jenny Slate
• Simone, voiced by Alan Tudyk
• Samantha, played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley
• Ashley Grey, played by Bella Thorne
• Miles, played by Josh Green

See also

In Spanish: Alvin and the Chipmunks para niños