Ross Bagdasarian

After Bagdasarian's death in 1972 from a heart attack at the age of 52, his son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., continued to release Chipmunks recordings and has taken over the voices for the Chipmunk characters in subsequent iterations of the cartoon. Music journalists have speculated that the chance of The Smiths reforming is extremely low, as the damage in their relationship was so severe. He also provided the voice for the David Seville character in the Chipmunks' 1961 animated television series, The Alvin Show. Rourke had long since settled for a smaller sum to pay off debts and continues to receive 10%. He also had bit parts in The Deep Six (1957), The Devil's Hairpin (1957), The Proud and Profane (1956), Three Violent People (1956), Hot Blood (1956), Alaska Seas (1954), Destination Gobi (1953), Stalag 17 (1953), Viva Zapata! (1952), and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). The court found in favor of Joyce, and ordered that he be paid over £1m in back pay and receive 25% henceforth. Bagdasarian also appeared in minor film parts, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, in which he plays an obsessed piano-playing songwriter. The Smiths were reunited in court in 1996 to settle a royalties claim by Joyce against Morrissey and Marr, who claimed the lion's share of the Smiths earnings from recordings and delegated only 10 percent each to Joyce and Rourke.

This success led to his recording of "The Christmas Song" with the Chipmunks. The band finally split due to a breakdown in the relationship between Morrissey and Marr with Morrissey becoming annoyed at Marr's work with other artists, and Marr becoming frustrated by Morrissey's musical inflexibility. As David Seville, he had another number-one record in his song, "The Witch Doctor", which was also his first experiment with the technique of speeding up the playback of an audio track to get the most-distinctive higher pitched squeaky comedy sound. In 2002, they were voted 'most inspirational band' by NME magazine. His first musical success was Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House", which he wrote with his cousin, novelist William Saroyan. The band released a total of four studio albums and at least as many compilations in less than five years, as well as numerous singles. During his professional life he was better known by the stage name David Seville, which he used on his recordings featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks. 8.

Ross Bagdasarian (January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), pianist, songwriter, actor, and record producer was born in Fresno, California. They received increased acknowledgement in the 1990s and the re-released "This Charming Man" reached No. 10 in the UK chart, none charted in the US), The Smiths generated a growing cult following throughout the last two decades of the twentieth century. Though not an international commercial success at the time (only two singles "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "Sheila Take a Bow" made No. 2 in the UK and was only a minor US hit, although the track "Paint a Vulgar Picture" proved somewhat prophetic in foretelling how the songs would be "reissued and repackaged" in seemingly innumerable compilations.

It too peaked at No. By 1987 personal differences within the band, and the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr, saw them on the verge of splitting and by the time that year's Strangeways, Here We Come (named after a Manchester prison) was released, the band had ceased to exist. This five-piece recorded the singles Panic and Ask and toured the United Kingdom; after the tour ended in October 1986, Gannon was fired. Gannon was retained and switched to rhythm guitar.

He was temporarily replaced on bass by Craig Gannon but reinstated after a fortnight. Meanwhile, Rourke was fired from the band in early 1986 due to ongoing problems with heroin. 2 in the UK chart, and is now usually thought of as their best work. A typical mixture of the mordantly bleak ("Never Had No-one Ever", which seemed to play up to stereotypes of the band), the dryly humorous ("Frankly, Mr Shankly") and a number of songs that synthesised both of these sides ("There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" and "Cemetry Gates") the record reached No.

During 1985 and 1986 the band completed exhausting tours of the UK and the US while recording the next studio record, The Queen Is Dead, released in June 1986. Musically, the band were more adventurous, with Marr adding rockabilly riffs to "Rusholme Ruffians" and playing funk on "Barbarism Begins at Home". This album was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the vegetarian proselytising of the title track and the light-hearted republicanism of "Nowhere Fast". With their profile further raised by a hit version of "Hand in Glove" by Sandie Shaw (another Morrissey idol), who was supported by the band, barefoot, on the Top of the Pops show, and a critically feted album of session material (Hatful of Hollow, released in November 1984) the band returned to the studio to record their sophomore effort, Meat Is Murder.

"The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" caused some controversy over its content, supposedly suggestive of pedophilia. His frequent acknowledgement of his many idols (James Dean and Oscar Wilde particularly) in interviews, along with some more subtle reference (the song-title "Pretty Girls Make Graves", for example, is taken from Hubert Selby) encouraged a literary bent amongst fans, who already had a tendency towards bookishness. Also evident was Morrissey's studied references to literature and popular culture icons. Its mood was also unremittingly bleak, exemplified by such track titles as "Still Ill" and "Suffer Little Children"; the latter referring to the Moors Murders that had stunned Manchester in the 1960s.

Despite its strong chart performance, The Smiths lacked some of the pop energy of the earlier singles, and suffered from being a little one-paced. 2 in the UK chart. By February 1984 this fanbase was sufficiently large to launch the band's long-awaited, self-titled debut album to No. Morrissey's lyrics, superficially depressing, were often full of mordant humour ("one of the few bands capable of making me laugh out loud", said Peel) and his lovelorn tales of alienation found an audience amongst a disaffected section of youth culture, bored by the ubiquitous synthesizer new romantic bands that dominated the charts.

The follow-ups, "This Charming Man" and "What Difference Does It Make", fared better and, aided by much praise from the music press, began to pick up a fanatical following. The record, like many of their later singles, was championed by DJ John Peel but failed to chart. Signing to Rough Trade records, they released their first single "Hand in Glove" on 13 May 1983. Hibbert was replaced after two gigs, however, by Andy Rourke, a friend of Marr's.

Mike Joyce was recruited as drummer after a short audition; the sound engineer of the studio where they recorded their first demos, Dale Hibbert, played bass. When they formed the band, Morrissey dropped his first name and Maher changed his surname to Marr to avoid confusion with the Buzzcocks drummer of the same name. The pair began to write songs based around Marr's guitar playing and lyrics by Morrissey, an occasional and none-too-successful music journalist. John Martin Maher, October 31, 1963).

Steven Patrick Morrissey May 22, 1959) and Johnny Marr (b. The group was formed in early 1982 by Manchester residents Morrissey (b. The band existed from 1982 to 1987.
The Smiths were a hugely influential British rock group and "indie music" pioneers.

Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance (Omnibus 1992, 1993²; ISBN 0-7119-3000-7). Johnny Rogan. The Smiths: The Complete Story (Omnibus 1985, 1988²). Mick Middles.

The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life (Reynolds and Hearn 2002, 2004²; ISBN 1-903111-47-1). Simon Goddard. Morrissey: Scandal and Passion (Robson 2004; ISBN 1-86105-787-3; covers both Smiths and Morrissey's solo career). David Bret.

The Very Best of The Smiths (compilation, 2001: UK – 31). Singles (compilation, 1995: UK – 5). ...Best II (compilation, 1992: UK – 29). Best...I (compilation, 1992: UK – 1; US – 139).

Rank (live, 1988 [1986]: UK – 2; US – 77). Strangeways, Here We Come (1987: UK – 2; US – 55). Louder Than Bombs (compilation, 1987: UK – 38; US – 62). The World Won't Listen (compilation, 1987: UK – 2).

The Queen Is Dead (1986: UK – 2; US – 71). Meat Is Murder (1985: UK – 1; US – 110). Hatful of Hollow (compilation, 1984: UK – 7). The Smiths (1984: UK – 2; US – 150).

"Ask" (1995 re-issue [1986]: 62). "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out" (1992 [1986]: 25). "How Soon Is Now?" (1992 re-issue [1984]: 16). "This Charming Man" (1992 re-issue [1983]: 8).

"Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me" (1987: 30). "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" (1987: 23). "Girlfriend in a Coma" (1987: 13). "Sheila Take a Bow" (1987: 10).

"Shoplifters of the World Unite" (1987: 12). "Ask" (1986: 14). "Panic" (1986: 11). "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (1986: 26).

"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" (1985: 23). "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" (1985: 49). "Shakespeare's Sister" (1985: 26). "How Soon Is Now?" (1985: 24).

"William, It Was Really Nothing" (1984: 17). "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (1984: 10). "What Difference Does It Make?" (1984: 12). "This Charming Man" (1983: 25).

"Hand in Glove" (1983: 124). Craig Gannon – rhythm guitar (1986). Dale Hibbert – bass guitar (1982). Mike Joyce – drums, backing vocals.

Andy Rourke – bass guitar, cello. Johnny Marr – guitars, keyboards, mandolin, bass guitar, harmonica. Morrissey – vocals, piano.