Leonid Bely is well known to fans of the Soviet pop of the 1970s and 80s. He was a singer, instrumental musician, composer. Especially striking was his work in the vocal and instrumental ensemble "Hope". Leonid Bely lived only 44 years - an untimely death cut short the earthly path of a talented musician and a good, kind person.
The beginning of the biography
Unfortunately, little is known about the life of Leonid Bely. Leonid Nikolaevich native Muscovite, was born on December 24, 1955.
From childhood, the boy was passionate about music - he played the guitar and piano, performed songs and even tried to compose music. Leonid was an intelligent, kind and romantic young man, did not drink alcohol and did not smoke. With age, he showed and gained a beautiful deep voice.
VIA "Hope"
After graduation, Leonid Bely was drafted into the army. He demobilized in 1976, and soon received an invitation from Mikhail Vladimirovich Plotkin (Misha Plotkin) - the founder and permanent leader of the vocal and instrumental ensemble "Hope" - to become the vocalist of the group instead of Igor Ivanov who left the band. Plotkin liked the similarity of the voices of Bely and Ivanov, and also attracted the personal qualities of the young man.
In the group, Bely performed songs such as "You yourself came up with", "Now I don’t care" and many others. He sang some songs in a duet with Lyudmila Shabina, vocalist of VIA "Hope" - for example, the song "I Love You". Of particular note is the performance by the duo of Shabin - Bely of the famous song "Tenderness" written by composer Alexandra Pakhmutova and poets Nikolai Dobronravov and Sergei Grebennikov.
In the ensemble "Hope" Leonid Bely worked until 1978. He was not only a vocalist, but also tried his hand as a keyboard player, drummer, bass player, mastered the recorder. Together with the ensemble, he traveled extensively on tours, often visited Kazakhstan and other Union republics.
Many members of the collective, for example, Evgeny Pechenov or the same Lyudmila Shabina, very warmly remember the musician, talk about him as a friendly and gentle person who could not even cheat so that it would remain invisible.
Nickname "Lenny"
In the pop and musical circles of the Soviet Union, Leonid Bely was known as "Lenny." The origin of this pseudonym, or nickname, has an interesting history. Leonid appreciated and respected the work of Lenny White from the American group "Return to Forever"; Black Lenny White played the drum kit in the band. Translated from English, "white" means "white", that is, the musicians have the same name. Therefore, Leonid Bely began to be called "Lenny."
After the "Hope"
Work in VIA "Nadezhda" gave the musician a good start in the world of Russian pop music. After leaving the group, Leonid after a while began working with the famous singer Galina Alekseevna Nenasheva - he sang a duet with her and even performed solo numbers in her concert programs.
In addition, Lenny also collaborated with vocal and instrumental ensembles "Cinema", "Funny Guys" and others. Together with his wife Margarita, Leonid Bely created several of his own rock bands, where they sang together: "Light", "Video" and "Youth of the Planet". These groups did not have much popularity.
In the early 1990s, Leonid Bely unexpectedly became interested in religion, which led to a complete change in the style and image of the musician. Church songs in place of original songs and instrumental accompaniment were replaced by pop songs and rock compositions: "The Sorrow of the Virgin", "Come, Holy Soul" and others. Moreover, these compositions have a very complex form and duration - from half an hour to an hour and a half.
Religion and the performance of spiritual chants became the meaning of the musician's life until his death. And death, unfortunately, occurred very early: on April 26, 2000 Leonid Nikolayevich Bely died after a heart attack that led to a cardiac arrest.
