Affiliated with
Father Yod's mid-'70s cult/commune of health food pioneers and psychedelic improvisers,
Aquariana joined the family as a teenager. She worked at
Yod's restaurant The Source, became one of his 13 "wives," and contributed backup vocals to performances and recordings from
Ya Ho Wa 13 and other musical variations of the Source Family.
Aquariana was part of the collective at the height of their creative output as well as the summit of their restaurant's financial success, and in those fruitful days, work was done on a recording of her solo material, one of many intended future releases that was put on hold when the family uprooted from Los Angeles to Hawaii in 1974. All shelved releases were put into a state of prolonged limbo when
Yod passed away in 1975 in a freak hang-gliding accident.
Aquariana lived out her days as a single mother, raising the child she had with
Yod and staying active in music, working with a gospel choir in L.A. as well as leading a series of concerts for troops in the Desert Storm war. She passed away in 1996, but in 2013
Drag City acquired the master tapes for her uncompleted self-titled solo album and issued it to widespread distribution.
Aquariana's preciously meager solo offerings mostly consist of spare piano accompanying her hauntingly beautiful voice, singing songs of life and spirituality. ~ Fred Thomas