Aquilla Sadalla

Born Marcella Graves, in the early 1950’s, Aquilla Sadalla’s journey into music began as a young girl in the Baptist church. As a youth, she was made aware of the power of music. Her formative years were spent exploring and expressing her love for music and sound. This love carried her through school and church choirs and talent competitions through elementary and high school. It was during this time that she and close friend Ann Nesby (Grammy Award-Winning Sounds of Blackness), formed a female vocal trio called the Starlights, and began performing hits from Aretha Franklin, Sly and the Family Stone and other note worthy artists at local weddings, family gatherings and talent shows.

In the late 1960’s, Aquilla was accepted into Northern Illinois University. While enrolled in NIU, she became a member of the NIU Black Choir. Here she developed her fundamental gift and ability for vocal performance and choral repertoire in an academic setting. After completing her BA in History Education at NIU in the early 1970’s, Aquilla competed in the Miss Black America pageant and landed 1st runner up. No combination of achievements, however, would prove more impressive than the assortment of musical groups with which she would soon become involved. She spent 18 years studying and performing instrumental and vocal music with the Circle of Sound, as well as Samana (a Chicago based female vocal and instrumental ensemble known for avant-garde improvisation and eclectic jazz tinged arrangements). If Aquilla’s melodic delivery strikes a familiar chord that resonates with a listener of that Chicago brand of soul consciousness made known by the likes of Sun-Ra, Roy Ayers or the likes of

In the 1990’s, Aquilla became a member of the Ju-Ju Nation African Arkestra and the Sundance Multi Performing Arts Company and eventually would rise to the call of lead singer for home-grown dance and funk tactics of Chicago’s Thrill Jockey recording artists, The National Trust.