Reports have it that veteran Highlife legend, Jewel Kofi Ackah has passed away.
The legendary musician died on Friday, April 27.
Somewhere last year the Chief Executive Officer of Zylofon Media, Nana Appiah Mensah, donated $10,000 to veteran highlife musician Jewel Ackah.
This happened after Mr. Appiah Mensah had heard Jewel Ackah shared the plight of his ill-health on Peace FM’s Entertainment Review hosted by Kwasi Aboagye on Saturday .
The Head of communication for Zylofon Media made the donation to Jewel Ackah at his residence in Accra.
Jewel Ackah who has been battling stroke and other diseases for the past ten years said he was going to use the money for medication.
About Jewel Ackah
Jewel Ackah was born in 1950 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 1963. Jewel had a career as a footballer and later joined a shipping company called Palm Line.
He realised shipping was not his field so he was introduced to 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 is one of the few musicians who made popularised the gospel music genre in Ghana after he had drifted from secular music.
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 Mea’ 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. Some of his songs are ‘Asomdowoe Hene,’ ‘Abena,’ ‘I’m in the Mood,’ ‘Joyce Sane Bra,’ and ‘Me Wo Bi.