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Longtime Bern's Musician Recalled As True Entertainer

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 6, 2008

Updated: 08/06/2008 03:37 pm

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  Furia

TAMPA - The man who entertained diners at Bern's Steak House with his accordion and piano since Lyndon Johnson was president died Monday.

Manuel "Manny" Furia of Tampa was 77.

Furia started playing at the South Tampa restaurant/institution in 1967 with a versatile song list that eventually ranged from old standards to an improbable accordion version of a heavy metal song.

At the time he started, Furia was a dark haired musician, slicked back hair, glasses and smoking jacket, someone out of the 1960's-era Las Vegas "Rat Pack."

At least that's the vision that owner David Laxer has of the entertainer who played at the restaurant since Laxer was 2 years old.

"That's the way I remember him. He was a true professional," Laxer said.

Furia stopped entertaining at the restaurant three weeks ago. He had shifted from carrying around the accordion to playing piano as he grew more ill.

"He had health issues before and came back. We thought he'd fight through this again," Laxer said.

Though most of the requests from diners were for familiar standards, Furia was adept enough to coax Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" from the accordion.

"On request," Laxer said. "He could pretty much play anything."

Kenny Haelsig, who started playing piano at Bern's in 2000 at 21 years of age, remembers the first time he saw Furia, who came in on a night off, and it was as though a legend had walked through the door.

"I was thinking, 'This is the guy the staff is always talking about. Manny does this, and Manny does that,'" Haelsig said.

For the past three years they split the week, with Furia playing the busier Thursdays through Saturdays and Haelsig playing the rest of the week.

Through the nearly eight years they worked together, Furia became a mentor to Haelsig, giving him pointers on how to entertain a restaurant crowd.

"He was a great mentor. He taught me how to interact with people. He helped me become a better entertainer for Bern's," Haelsig said.

The younger piano player also said he grew much closer to Furia when the older man was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago, though his energy never seemed to wane.

"He was like a kid. He never showed his age. If he hadn't told me, I'd have never known anything was wrong," Haelsig said.

Furia's usual shift was about 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

At one time Furia was part of a group called The Foursome, and members of the group owned The Foursome Club in Tampa.

Survivors include a brother, two sisters and several nieces and nephews.

A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Boza & Roel Funeral Home, 4730 N. Armenia Ave.

The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home, with burial afterward at Myrtle Hill Memorial Park. They also will receive people at the funeral home immediately after the burial.

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