Born Rostom Sipan “Ross” Bagdasarian in Fresno, California in 1919, he became famous for his recordings featuring “Alvin and the Chipmunks.”
An American Grammy-award winning pianist, singer, songwriter, actor and record-producer, Bagdasarian was the cousin of William Saroyan. His first musical success was a song he penned with William Saroyan in 1951, which was sung by Rosemary Clooney titled “Come on-a My House.”
Bagdasarian’s stage name was “David Seville” and under this name he scored his first #1 in the summer of 1958 with the song “Witch Doctor.” This song was Bagdasarian’s first experiment with the V-M tape recorder he bought which varies tape speeds. He sped the audio track on “Witch Doctor” to give it a high-pitched voice.