In 1984 the California Dancing Raisin was introduced to increase awareness and demand for California raisins. The first animated 30-second commercial used singer and musician Buddy Miles as the vocalist for the soundtrack “Heard it Through the Grapevine” which was originally recorded by Marvin Gaye. The groovy, sunglass-wearing Raisins starred in an Emmy-nominated 1989 TV special, Meet the Raisins, and had their own Saturday-morning cartoon series on CBS from 1989 – 1990.
