Real name: Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni

Effective period / Period of releases: 1951 - 1994

Italian-American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, bandleader, and jazz educator.
Born: 6 July 1924 in Rock Falls, Illinois.
Died: 14 February 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
Married to singer Pearl Bailey (1952 -1990, her death).
Married to producer Francine Bellson (1992-2009, his death).
Older brother of drummer Tony Bellson. Father of jazz singer Dee Dee Bellson.

Credited with pioneering the use of two bass drums, a set-up he already used at the age of 15. He received the prestigious Jazz Masters Award from the US National Endowment of the Arts in 1994 and was made a “Living Legend” by the Kennedy Centre in 2007.