The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this cartoon and related materials, the Chipettes served as female counterparts to the title characters around which the series was based. As the series progressed, the Chipettes became featured characters in their own right, starring in several episodes in which their male counterparts did not appear. The title of the show was changed from Alvin and the Chipmunks to simply The Chipmunks in 1988 to reflect this reality. In the cartoon series and the accompanying feature films, all of the Chipettes were voiced by their creator, Janice Karman, wife of Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., son of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., originator of The Chipmunks. Karman also wrote and voiced the Chipettes' dialogue on all of their studio albums, while studio singers such as Susan Boyd, Shelby Daniel, and Katherine Coon provided their singing voices. In the Japanese language version of the feature film The Chipmunk Adventure, the voices for the Chipettes are provided by Mayumi Suzuki, Mika Doi and Ikue Ōtani.

The first character designs for the Chipettes were drafted by Corny Cole for their 1983 debut. These were later revamped by Louise Zingarelli and Sandra Berez for The Chipmunk Adventure.

Origins

The origins of the Chipettes can be traced to the 1982 Alvin and the Chipmunks album "The Chipmunks Go Hollywood" (RCA, 1982). On this album, Alvin sings a duet with a female character billed as "Charlene the Chipette". Charlene is featured on the song You're the One That I Want from the soundtrack of the motion picture Grease. Charlene was depicted on the album cover as having a long, blonde ponytail, and seems to have been the basis for the later character of Brittany, although it is possible that Charlene is Brittany's first name, but she goes by her middle name.

Like the Chipmunks, the Chipettes were originally created for the musical medium, and later crossed over into cartoons. According to their creator, Janice Karman, she and Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., "...had been doing the albums at that point... We couldn't do the girl songs. I wanted to do female chipmunks that have counter personalities to the Chipmunks so we could do some girl tunes."

Bagdasarian also added in reference to the Chipettes characters, "It enables you to deal with issues that girls are going through that boys wouldn't necessarily be dealing with... We had a baby girl at the time. We wanted to let her know she can be president, or a soccer champion, or whatever... With the Chipettes we can handle those sorts of things."

It is worth noting, however, that the Chipettes of the cartoon series (Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor) appeared on the small screen before appearing on any albums. Their first appearance on a Chipmunks album was on 1984's "Songs From Our TV Shows" which was released on March 4, 1984, nearly seven months after the Chipettes debuted on the first episode of the Alvin and the Chipmunks television series on September 17, 1983.

Although the Chipettes featured prominently on many Alvin and the Chipmunks albums, they received equal billing with the Chipmunks only on 1988's "Born to Rock."

There has been some speculation that the Chipettes may appear in a sequel to the popular Alvin and the Chipmunks film released in 2007. “There has been a lot of talk about it,” revealed Janice Karman, one of the film’s producers. “A lot of people have been asking about the little girls." Whether or not this comes to pass remains to be seen.

Character Profiles

Brittany Miller

Brittany is the leader of the Chipettes and she is a little vain. Although she thinks that no one has to be in her way, she always looks after her sisters and always cares. As Alvin and the Chipmunks the Chipettes are lke a ((Girl Band)) that sings and dances as good as ((Alvin and the Chipmunks)). She has a similar identity to ((Alvin)) the two are like two peas in a pod but can sometimes take advantedge of ecah other. Brittany loves ((Pink)), ((Singing)), ((Dancing)), and being with ((Sisters)).

Jeanette Miller

Jeanette is a sweet, loving girl. She has intellengnce and perfect manners. She is definetly compared to Simon.Being bosed by Britanny is quite hard.Since she is shy, she can rock out as being a back up in the Chipettes. Jeanette is a generous person.Her colours that she loves is Blue and Purple.

Eleanor Miller

Eleanor is self-assured, confident, and extremely maternal. She is a gifted athlete and a mini-olympiad in any field of sport. Eleanor is quite strong-willed, and is far more likely than the timid Jeanette to stand up to her sister Brittany when she feels that she is wrong. Eleanor is blonde with brown eyes, and her signature color is spring green. She and Theodore, her counterpart in the male trio, are openly caring towards one another, making their romance the most obvious of the three.

Fictional Character History

Like their counterparts the Chipmunks, the Chipettes seem to have been born in a single litter, or in human terms, as "triplets".

Although there is no proof of it in their decidedly American accents, the Chipettes were apparently born in Australia and orphaned at a very early age. Fortunately for them, their species seems to mature faster than human beings, and the Chipettes were able to walk, talk, and to some extent fend for themselves while they were still in their infancy, and no larger than the size of a human's hand.

Under unexplained circumstances, the sisters came to be living in the care of a young Australian girl by the name of Olivia. Olivia was herself an orphan, living in an institution run by a mean-spirited and exploitative woman called Ms. Grudge. Unfortunately for the young chipmunks, Grudge noticed their innate singing abilities and attempted to exploit them for her own benefit. Fleeing the orphanage, the Chipettes traveled to New York as stowaways on a freighter dubbed the "American Dreamer". For a time, the girls lived on the city streets, working at a variety of menial jobs, until Brittany saw an advertisement calling for singers to feature at a hotel in California. The sisters managed to scrape together bus fare and set out for Los Angeles, where they eventually landed the gig, taking on the professional name of "The Chipmunks".

During an engagement at another hotel, the girls encountered the original Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon, and Theodore) and their manager, David Seville. After a brief conflict over the Chipmunk name, Alvin dubbed the girls the "Chipettes".

The Chipmunks and the Chipettes became fast friends, and the Chipettes eventually settled in the Sevilles' suburban Los Angeles hometown and enrolled in the local school system. At this time, the girls lived on their own in an elaborate and well-furnished tree house. Unfortunately, school officials found out that the totally self-sufficient girls lived alone, and after a disastrous meeting in which Alvin and the Chipmunks posed as the parents of their friends, the girls were once again faced with the threat of life in an orphanage. In order to avoid this undesirable eventuality, the girls were adopted by Miss Beatrice Miller, the former leader of the World War II era dance troupe known as Miss Miller and the Thrillers, and a family friend of the Sevilles. It was at this time that they took on the surname of "Miller". Initially the girls felt frustrated with Miss Miller's old fashioned views and tastes (for example, she refused to let them go to school unless their skirts reached down to their ankles), but eventually bonded with her after they realized she shared their love of music.

Together, the Chipmunks and Chipettes shared a variety of adventures, perhaps the most exciting of which was their balloon race around the world. Over the years, each of the Chipettes engaged in on-again-off-again relationships with their Chipmunk counterparts--Simon with Jeanette, Theodore with Eleanor, and Alvin with Brittany. However, the relationship between Alvin and Brittany rarely went smoothly, as their similarly aggressive, egotistical personalities often clashed, in contrast to the more mellow interplay between Simon and Jeanette or Theodore and Eleanor. Alternatively, they were also shown to date human boys, just as the boys often showed an interest in human girls. It is notable that the Chipmunks and the Chipettes inhabit a relatively "realistic" world, in which theirs is the only sapient species aside from human beings, as opposed to a world full of anthropomorphized animals.

The Chipettes apparently lack the body fur of the Chipmunks, and also have more human-like hair on their heads, in what may be a case of sexual dimorphism in the species.

Discography

With the exception of 1988's "Born to Rock" the discography of the Chipettes consists of featured appearances on Alvin and the Chipmunks recordings.

Albums

• 1982: The Chipmunks Go Hollywood (Debut of "Charlene")
• 1984: Songs From Our TV Shows (Chipmunks album)
• 1987: The Chipmunk Adventure
• 1988: The Chipmunks and The Chipettes: Born to Rock (Receiving equal billing with the Chipmunks)
• 1990: Rockin' Through the Decades
• 1992: Chipmunks in Low Places (Label: Sony Wonder, ASIN B0000028T3)
• 1994: Here's Looking at Me!
• 1995: When You Wish Upon a Chipmunk
• 1995: A Very Merry Chipmunk
• 1995: The Very Best of The Chipmunks
• 1996: Club Chipmunk: The Dance Mixes
• 1998: The A-Files: Alien Songs
• 2004: Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks
• 2007: Alvin and the Chipmunks

Singles

• 1993: "Achy Breaky Heart" (Billy Ray Cyrus cover; 45, 1993, Epic 74776) (#72 Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks)
• 1994: "I Don't Want To Be Alone For Christmas (Unless I'm Alone With You)" (actually performed by James Ingram)
• 1996: "Macarena"

Filmography

• Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983-1991) - TV series
• The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman (2000)
• Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks (2003)

References

• Regarding the first and subsequent appearances of the Chipettes on television - http://www.tv.com/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/show/2827/episode.html
• Regarding Janice Karman as the primary voice actress for the Chipettes - http://www.tv.com/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/show/2827/cast.html?tag=tabs;cast
• Regarding the history of the Chipettes on The Chipmunks TV series and in the Chipmunk Adventure - http://www.chipmunks.com/history.php
• Regarding the Chipettes creation for the musical medium and their discography - http://www.roctober.com/roctober/chipmunks.html
• Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. on their inspiration for creating the Chipettes - http://www.mediavillage.com/jmentr/2006/09/11/Jacki-09-11-06/

• Janice Karman on the possibility of the Chipettes appearing in a sequel to the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks film - http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/01/09/alvin-the-chipmunks-to-meet-chipettes-in-sequel/
• Regarding the fictional character history of the Chipettes as outlined in various episodes of the television series - http://www.tv.com/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/show/2827/episode_guide.html http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/alvin-chipmunks/199697 http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_Studios/D/DiC_Entertainment/The_Chipmunks/ http://www.episodeworld.com/show/Alvin_And_The_Chipmunks http://tv.msn.com/tv/episode-guide/alvin-and-the-chipmunks

External links

• http://thechipmunks.com/ - The Official Site
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrittanyandtheChipettes/ - An Unofficial Chipettes Fan Club
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084972/ - The Chipmunks Cartoon at the imdb
• http://groups.msn.com/TheChipmunkPalace - The Chipmunk Palace, Unofficial Fan Club Featuring the Chipmunks and Chipettes