1962 ''Christmas With the Chipmunks' David Seville Autographed Cover + 33 Vinyl

$

149

This 1962 'Christmas With the Chipmunks' Volume 1 with David Seville Autographed Album Cover and 33 1/3 Double Sided Record is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by Authentication Direct COA #2343836 and REM Fine Collectibles.
Ross S. Bagdasarian (January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), known professionally 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.

Christmas with The Chipmunks is the name given to four different Christmas music albums by Alvin and the Chipmunks. These albums were released individually in 1962, 1963, 2007 and 2008.  The Original Christmas with The Chipmunks was released in 1962 and contains 12 tracks. The tracks from this and its follow-up album, Christmas with The Chipmunks Vol. 2 have been in continuous circulation since their original releases; however, at some point since the late 1980s, Volume 2's cover has been given to Volume 1 and vice versa, with the volume number and track listing staying the same. Both albums have been combined and reissued several times since their original release, making the songs the most well known in the Chipmunk canon. The most current version available is a 2012 re-release Chipmunks Christmas.
Side One     "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" (Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman) – 1:46
    "Up on the Housetop" (Benjamin Hanby) – 1:34
    "Silver Bells" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans) – 2:18
    "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Johnny Marks) – 2:31M
    "Jingle Bells" (James Lord Pierpont) – 2:38
    "Over the River and Through the Woods" (Lydia Maria Child) – 1:59

Side Two     "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 1:47
    "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (Meredith Willson) – 1:47
    "Frosty the Snowman" (Walter "Jack" Rollins, Steve Nelson) – 2:01
    "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) – 2:38
    "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" (Ross Bagdasarian Sr.) – 2:21MM
    "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (Traditional) – 0:56

 
Bagdasarian's major success with songwriting came with "Come On-a My House". Originally recorded by Kay Armen in 1950, it was turned into a million-selling hit in 1951 by Rosemary Clooney released by Columbia Records. It is an adaptation of an Armenian folk song Bagdasarian wrote with his cousin William Saroyan. The song was originally composed for their off-Broadway musical The Son. It launched Clooney's career, reaching number one on Billboard charts and was number four on Billboard year-end top 30 singles of 1951. The song sold some 750,000 records in a month. In 1954, he wrote "Hey, Brother, Pour the Wine", a hit for Dean Martin.

In 1955 Bagdasarian signed with the then newly established Liberty Records. In early 1956 he had a transcontinental hit with the novelty record "The Trouble with Harry" (inspired by the homonymous Hitchcock film) credited to Alfi & Harry, although Alfi & Harry was just one person, Bagdasarian himself. It reached No. 44 on the Billboard chart and was a bigger hit in the United Kingdom reaching No. 15. In December 1956, he charted with his first record credited to his David Seville pseudonym, "Armen's Theme" which reached No. 42 on the Billboard chart.
Bagdasarian's rise to prominence came with the song "Witch Doctor" in 1958, which was created after he experimented with the speed control on a tape recorder bought with $200 (around $2,000 adjusted for inflation as of 2022) from the family savings. Liberty Records released this novelty record under the David Seville name. It is a duet between his real voice and accelerated version.The record went on to become a Billboard number-one single by April 28, 1958, and further established him as a songwriter. It sold 1.5 million copies.

Bagdasarian went on to create his trio of Chipmunks named after the executives of Liberty Records: Simon, Theodore, and Alvin, named for Simon "Si" Waronker, Theodore "Ted" Keep, and Alvin Bennett. Their debut song, "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" was released on November 17, 1958, and became a number one hit by New Years Day. The song sold 4 million records in the first few months. It topped Billboard charts the two weeks before and two weeks after New Years and won three Grammy Awards at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards on May 4, 1959: Best Recording for Children, Best Comedy Performance, and Best Non-Classical Engineered Song. Bagdasarian won the first two as David Seville. The song was the 23rd most performed Christmas song of the 20th century.

Shana Alexander, writing for Life magazine in 1959, noted that Bagdasarian was the first case in the "annals of popular music that one man has served as writer, composer, publisher, conductor and multiple vocalist of a hit record, thereby directing all possible revenues from the song back into his pocket." Alexander also found it remarkable that Bagdasarian "can neither read nor write music nor play any musical instrument in the accepted sense of the word." Bagdasarian owned Chipmunk Enterprises, which sponsored Chipmunk-related sales. By 1963, some 15 companies were using or planned to use Alvin figures. By that year, Billboard magazine estimated the total income from the Chipmunks' record sales (including overseas sales) and record club sales to be around $20 million (around $171 million adjusted for inflation to 2021 dollars).

In the following years, the Chipmunks released several hit songs: "Alvin's Harmonica" (1959), "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (1959), "Alvin's Orchestra" (1960), "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (1960), "The Alvin Twist" (1962), and the album The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits in 1964 during the British Invasion.
Bagdasarian then produced The Alvin Show, a TV cartoon broadcast on CBS from October 1961 to September 1962