Jewel Ackah was one of the many musicians who popularized highlife music in the 1980’s and 1990s. His sweet voice and enticing Fante Lyrics made him and exceptional artist. After years in the highlife scene, he found Christ and shifted to gospel music in the late 1990’s.
Jewel Ackah was born in the 1945 at Axim in the Western Region of Ghana to Emmanuel Ackah and Cecilia Dye. He started his education at the Axim Roman Catholic primary and completed in Takoradi in the 1963. Jewel had a career as a footballer and later joined a shipping company called Palm Line. He realized shipping was not his field so he was introduced into a traditional drumming group and within a short time he became the best in the group. Jewel was picked up by a renowned musician named Ebo Tailor.
He started playing live dance band and played with guys like Elgrand Kwofie, C. K. Mann and Jos Akins as the master of the band. In 1974 Jewel recorded his first album ‘Gyaki Me’ in the Nzema dialect which was a hit and won him several awards. He also teamed up with Pat Thomas to record the song ‘False Lover’ the same year. Still as a drummer, he joined the famous Sweet Beans Band and through hard work was called to lead the Sweet Talks in Tema. From there he made his trip to the US with C.K. Mann. After his trip he also made some single trips to Canada, back to the US and then to Europe.
Jewel Ackah has over 27 albums to his credit and he is married with six children.