Emmanuel (born Jesús Emmanuel Arturo Acha Martinez, April 16, 1955, in Mexico City) is a Mexican singer who debuted in the 1970s.
He is the son of the Argentinian-born bullfighter Raúl Acha, "Rovira", who appeared numerous times in the Plaza de Acho in Lima, Peru. Emmanuel grew up in Chosica, a town about an hour from Lima, and attended Chosica's most prestigious boarding school, the Colegio Santa Rosa, of the Augustinian priests. His mother was Spanish singer Conchita Martínez.
Emmanuel's songs are usually ballads, which became popular during the 1980s. His fourth and most successful album to date, Íntimamente (Intimately), was written by the famous Spaniard ballad composer Manuel Alejandro in collaboration with Ana Magdalena. It was released in 1980 and had the following seven hit songs:
- "Todo Se Derrumbó Dentro De Mí" ("Everything Collapsed Inside of Me")
- "Quiero Dormir Cansado" ("I Want to Sleep Exhausted")
- "El Día Que Puedas" ("Whenever You Get a Chance")
- "Con Olor A Hierba" ("With the Scent of Grass")
- "Tengo Mucho Que Aprender De Ti" ("I Have Much to Learn from You")
- "Insoportablemente Bella" ("Unbearably Beautiful") (cover of Hernaldo Zúñiga's and Rudy Márquez's 1980 hit)
- "Este Terco Corazón" ("This Stubborn Heart")
The remaining songs on the album are "Esa Triste Guitarra" ("That Sad Guitar"), "Caprichosa María" ("Capricious Maria"), and "Eso Era La Vida" ("That Was Life"), the last of which is the only song on the album not composed by Alejandro-Magdalena.
His follow-up albums also enjoyed success with memorable love songs. Worth noting, (among many others) his Ibero-American number one smash hit single "La Chica de Humo" ("The Smoke Girl"), a New jack swing song which became one of the biggest hits throughout 1989, it also became a number one single on the U.S Hot Latin Tracks in the same year. The theme was included on the 1989 album Quisiera. The music video for the song had a constant rotation on the Mexican, Uruguayan and Argentinian music channels and became an eighties classic song in Ibero-America. In 2011, Emmanuel received the Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award.
Emmanuel continues to tour throughout Latin America backed by bands that have included musicians from the United States, most notably guitarist Dick Smith of (Earth Wind & Fire, Kenny Loggins, and Air Supply).
Emmanuel's son, Alexander Acha, is a professional singer as well.