Союз композиторов СССР
Bely was born in Berdychiv, in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine). In 1929 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory and later taught on the faculty of that school from 1935–1948. In 1939 he became a member of Union of Soviet Composers. He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1952 and was named an honored artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1956. In 1980 he was endowed with the honorary title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.