Acting Bagdasarian's
Broadway debut was in 1939 when he played the newsboy in
The Time of Your Life by
William Saroyan, his cousin. 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, Bagdasarian wrote "
Hey, Brother, Pour the Wine", a hit for
Dean Martin. 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 1956, he wrote an instrumental "Armen's Theme" named after his wife. The executives at Liberty Records suggested that he adopt a pseudonym as they thought his name was too difficult to pronounce.
Dave Seville and the Chipmunks Bagdasarian's rise to prominence came with the song "
Witch Doctor" in 1958, 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. 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 $20 million ($ adjusted for inflation in 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 produced
The Alvin Show, a half-hour TV cartoon show broadcast on
CBS from October 1961 to September 1962. In 1968, Alvin and the Chipmunks recorded a version of "The Chipmunk Song" with the rock band
Canned Heat, who also recorded for Liberty Records. ==Personal life==