Tony Bellus

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Tony Bellus (born Anthony J. Bellusci, 17 April 1936, Chicago, Illinois) is a vocalist and musician first recording for Shi-Fi Records in 1958. His greatest claim to fame was a self-composed song he recorded in Chicago in 1959, called "Robbin' The Cradle".

Much has been said about the uniqueness of the recording. It contained a number of styles and unheard-of musical combinations. It combined an Italian pop singer playing an accordion a la Dick Contino, being backed with a basically country/rockabilly band augmented with a background Latino vocal group. Upon hearing Bellus perform the song in Chicago, NRC Vice-President Boots Woodall leased the master for the NRC label, and the song hit the Top Forty, staying on the charts for 26 weeks.

Attempts at follow-ups were hampered when the original National Recording Corporation went bankrupt 27 April 1961, to reappear in 1962 under the aegis of Georgia theatre magnate Frederick Storey. The reorganization and a spell in the Army took the momentum from Bellus' career. Many critics claim that Bellus was indeed a one shot artist that never again recorded anything that could have become a hit.

Today, Bellus has returned to the NRC label, with a CD release of the 1959 album that followed the single's success. The old NRC music library was purchased by Georgia music historian and producer Johnny Carter in 2004, and a second Bellus CD was shortly in the works, at a new state-of-the-art digital facility dubbed "The NRC Studio". The second CD has a "Now & Then" theme, including the best of the NRC singles not previously available on CD, plus new music written by Bellus.

Bellus resides in Florida with his wife Tammy, also a songwriter.