The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

Bagdasarian provided the group's voices by producing sped-up recordings of his own, a technique pioneered on the successful "Witch Doctor".

The franchise was revived in 1973, with the characters' voices provided by his son Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and the latter's wife Janice Karman.

[1][2] In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian Sr. released a novelty song (as David Seville) about being unsuccessful at love until he found a witch doctor who told him how to woo his woman.

[11][12][13][14] The Chipmunks first officially appeared on the scene in a novelty record released in late fall 1958 by Bagdasarian.

That album and the continued reruns of the series proved to be popular enough to warrant further new records as well as new television productions, and on December 14, 1981, the Chipmunks and Seville returned to television in the NBC Christmas special A Chipmunk Christmas, produced by the Bagdasarians with Chuck Jones as a creative consultant.

[30] In 1983, a second animated television series for the group, titled Alvin and the Chipmunks, was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions and released.

In the 1988–89 season, the show switched production companies to DIC Entertainment (1988–1990) and Murakami Wolf Swenson (1988).

[31] On January 18, 1991, NBC aired a television special starring the Chipmunks entitled Rockin' Through the Decades.

In 1998, Sony Wonder and Columbia Records released The A-Files: Alien Songs and Greatest Hits: Still Squeaky After All These Years on September 21, 1999.

The movie was successful enough to spark interest in a sequel, and in 2000, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman appeared.

[32][33] On September 17, 2004, Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, and Bagdasarian Productions announced a live-action animated film starring Alvin and the Chipmunks.

[34] Tim Hill[35] directed the 2007 adaption Alvin and the Chipmunks, with voices by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney.

[38][39] Dave Seville is the adoptive father, manager, and caretaker of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in the franchise.

Created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. in 1958, Dave is portrayed as a compassionate yet often exasperated figure, trying to balance his career as a songwriter with raising the mischievous Chipmunks.

In the live-action/CGI films, Dave is portrayed by Jason Lee,[40] appearing as a loving but strict father figure who helps guide the Chipmunks through their music career.

The 1983 series revealed that the boys' mother, Vinnie, is a similarly anthropomorphic chipmunk living in a nearby forest.

While never mentioned, in the CGI movies and 2015 series, the chipmunks are no longer triplets and celebrate different birthdays; but seem to be around the same school age.

In the 2007 feature film, the chipmunks lived in a tree, fending for themselves as their parents had taken off to join a hippie commune and had problems gathering nuts for the winter.

He initially discovers the Chipmunks and helps launch their music career but quickly becomes their adversary due to his greed and manipulative behavior.

Throughout the series, Ian repeatedly schemes to exploit the Chipmunks and other characters, including the Chipettes, for his personal gain.

The Chipettes eventually break free from Ian’s control and join forces with the Chipmunks, becoming both their romantic interests and musical collaborators.

Throughout the franchise, they remain popular characters, often involved in comedic and musical adventures alongside the Chipmunks.

[43][44] Due in part to the acclaim of his debut album The College Dropout, such sampling techniques subsequently became much copied by myriad of other hip-hop producers.

In 1968, the Chipmunks appeared in an Italian commercial TV program Carosello, in their sponsorship of Prealpi, a cheese-maker in Varese, Italy.

In 1986, they performed "The Girls of Rock and Roll" with The Chipettes as a way to promote their film, The Chipmunk Adventure, which was released six months later.