Watching him play his accordion

I was probably a freshman in high school when my older sister, Diane, began singing with her good friend Connie Frake. They had sung together in school and then took it on the road to county fairs and local contests. Soon they needed a name. I can remember the family hearing their choices and finally out came The Twin Tones.

Their singing culminated with appearing on Morris B Sachs Amateur Hour on Chicago television. If I remember correctly, they did not win a prize the first time, but came home with a win on their second appearance. I think they each won a Bulova wristwatch.

But a larger showing took place with a local Momence young man who was making a name in the area. I heard him once at the Luna theater of all places. While the guitar was the instrument of the day, this young man was killing it on an accordion.

I can’t recall the connection, but one day he appeared at our home in Clifton with his accordion, and we settled in the room we had dubbed the music room since it had mom’s piano and some sheet music. Connie and Diane were there, and they started to sing with Anthony Bellusci as my mother accompanied on her piano. He had a great voice and the Twin Tones blended in quite well.

Later the three of them actually recorded several songs, I think all of them written by this man who had changed his name to a shorter form. He was now Tony Bellus. I understood that he had gone to Chicago to study at The Art Institute of Chicago’s Goodman Theater.

In 1958, Tony had written a new song and had in recorded, but he and the Twin Tones had gone their separate ways. They had moved on and were preparing for adult life with thoughts of college and occupations rather than careers in the music industry.

Tony’s recording of his creation “Robbin’ the Cradle” had backup but not my sister or Connie. The song went wild and spent 26 weeks on the Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, an incredible length of time for any musician. I know as it went to the top, my sister mentioned that she wished she had been in that recording, but she was soon off to the University of Kentucky and Bellus was off to the U.S. Army. On his return to the area, he worked for his father in his upholstery shop in Bradley.

I really lost track of this talented singer-songwriter for many years. I heard that he had traveled to many locations to perform and even had gotten on “American Bandstand” with Dick Clark. He also turned to helping charities, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Tony set a most unusual record while playing his accordion at one marathon events for monetary pledges to a charity for children. I learned that during one of these, he got himself into the “Guiness Book of World Records” when he played his accordion for 50 hours straight. He was listed in the 1975 and 1977 editions of that book.

Later, Tony moved on to Florida continuing to play his music at various hotels and restaurants along the Gulf Coast. To be honest, I had not come across Tony Bellus for years when I heard that he was coming to Kankakee to be honored with a Lifetime Achievement at the Kankakee Area Music Awards in 2018. Ironically for me, it was held in another Kankakee movie theater. Well, it used to be The Majestic Theater on North Schuyler Avenue, now more of a performance center with a stage. I had to go. My sister had long ago become a resident of San Diego, so I went alone.

There were several musical groups that evening, but the crowd paid complete attention when Tony (and his son Tino) broke into “Robbin’ the Cradle.” I waited for him to take a break and approached him, knowing he would have no idea who I was. Just the kid sitting on the couch in a Clifton farmhouse. He sort of stared at me for a moment until I shared that my sister had sung with him a million years ago.

He looked at me and said, “Diane Marek.” He totally remembered her and Connie singing backup for him so many years ago. He spent a few moments with me until he was called back on stage.

I was so pleased that I had come, and that he had taken the time to talk with me. I almost immediately shared the evening with my sister. There certainly haven’t been many local people who have ever hit the top 10. Yet he continued to give back to society with his abilities.

I just read of Tony’s death in the Journal. He passed away in Florida on Jan. 21 at the age of 88. I think Momence and Kankakee County can be proud of this man’s accomplishments in the musical field but even more so with his contribution of his time and effort to his philanthropic efforts over the years, mostly directed to children with severe medical needs. He will be missed.

Dennis Marek can be contacted at llamalaw23@gmail.com.