- Bellson, a jazz drummer, was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. He pioneered the use of two bass drums instead of one.
- Received a Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994; a Living Jazz Legends Award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2007; a Jazz Living Legend Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; and a American Drummers Achievement Award from the Avedis Zildjian Co.
- Father of Dee Dee Belson. He passed away less than five months before her death from cancer.
- Inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1978.
- Bellson was one of eight children born to Italian immigrant parents of Napolitan and Milanese descent, Louis and Carmen Bartolucci.
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