The person that links all three of things listed in the title is one Ross Bagdasarian Sr., better known as David Seville. Still not sure?? Listen on....
David was an actor and songwriter. His first big success was co-writing "Come On-a My House" with his cousin the author and playwright, William Saroyan. Rosemary Clooney had a hit with it in 1951. He then found work for the next few years playing bit part in movies. The role he would be most known for was the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, "Rear Window". In it, he portrays a piano playing songwriter who composes, plays and sings a song called, "Lisa". His character lives across the street from Jimmy Stewart.
He found himself in the studio for Liberty records in 1955/56 and recorded several songs under the name of Alfi and Harry of which one of them would have some airplay. "The Trouble With Harry" had the same name of a Hitchcock movie that was released the same year, although I'm not sure if there is any real connection.
The work in the studio during that time interested him in the recording process. So he bought a tape recorder and started messing around with sounds and voices at different speeds. This led Bagdasarian, by this time David Seville, to release a song called "Witch Doctor", which would hit No. 1 in 1958, and shortly thereafter to create Alvin and the Chipmunks.
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VERY interesting indeed. "Rear Window" is one of my all-time favorites and I remember the guy on the piano and the song "Lisa". Keep up the good work - fascinating stuff!
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