Geneva Vallier

By Marv Goldberg

© 2025 by Marv Goldberg

Geneva Vallier is probably best known for "You Said You Had A Woman", an answer to Ray Charles' hit, "I've Got A Woman". Although she was active for around 15 years, she didn't leave a big footprint on the entertainment world. This will be another short one.

Geneva Vallier was born Ara Griffin, in Beaumont, Texas, to Shedrick Griffin and Hazel Reed. The date on her birth certificate was January 7, 1925, but her and her father's surname was misspelled "Griffith". She'd later tell Social Security that the date was February 6, 1925. I don't know how "Ara" became "Geneva", unless that was another mistake on the document. She had lots of siblings: Frank, Henry, Wilbert, Mildred, Kyle, Lucius, Levern, and Lois.

In the 1930 census, the family was in Beaumont, but the census-taker (semi-literate, as always) couldn't spell "Geneva", which was rendered as "Joicy" (don't ask how). Her father did a bit better: "Shadrack".

Still in Beaumont in 1940, she was, amazingly, enumerated as "Geneva". (I'm sure the census-taker was fired for that unforgiveable error.)

On June 27, 1941, 16-year-old Geneva Griffin married Ellis Lincoln Vallier in Beaumont. When Ellis registered for the draft in February 1942, they were living in Oakland, California and he was already working at Mare Island, a nearby naval station. He joined the Navy in March 1943 and was stationed at Mare Island, serving on the USS Black Douglas, a former three-masted schooner that had been converted into a coastal patrol boat. He remained in the Navy until 1948, but then continued sailing, at least in the early 1950s, as part of a civil service crew aboard a ship, called the USNS Marine Carp, in New York.

Geneva gave birth to a daughter, Barbara Carole Vallier, on March 22, 1942; however, she died on December 25 of that year. Trying again, she had a son, Ellis Michael Vallier, on January 14, 1943; tragically, he died the next day.

Finally, something to do with music! On July 27, 1948, she was in an NAACP show, called "Surprise Presentations", in Oakland. Also on the bill were Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Ivory Joe Hunter, Joyce Bryant, and the Peter Rabbit Trio. This is pretty decent company for someone who'd never been advertised before.

A March 7, 1949 article in the Oakland Tribune detailed how a singer and a musician (Geneva Vallier and Joe W. Smith) were arrested for possession of a huge number of marijuana cigarettes. She was described, in the April 13, Tribune, as "a featured singer at San Francisco and Oakland night spots". They seemed to be living together at the time, although she was still married to Ellis Vallier.

By October 7, the Tribune reported, Smith had changed his plea to "guilty" and charges against Geneva were dismissed.

In the 1950 census, Geneva was living in Oakland, separated, and a "Singer - Night Club". She'd worked 52 weeks in 1949, it said, and claimed income of $600. At some point, she and Ellis were divorced, but I can't find the divorce record.

Beginning February 7, 1951, she appeared, for at least two weeks, at the Clayton Club in Sacramento, California, along with Dan Grissom.


Late in 1951, she did some recording for Los Angeles' RPM Records, a subsidiary of Modern. The two known sides were "Bowlegged Woman" and "Daybreak Blues". She had written "Bowlegged Woman" and copyrighted it on October 3, 1951. RPM chose not to release the sides, but they appeared on a 2023 Jasmine CD (see discography) called Deep Sea Divas. Note that the CD changed the title to "Bow Legged Boogie".

About a year later, she recorded another couple of sides, with the Emanon Trio, for Jack Lauderdale's Swing Time label (also in Los Angeles). The tunes were "Mr. Johnnie Long Donn Is Dead" and "My Man's Gone" (the correct title, which she copyrighted on October 3, 1951; when the record was released, around November 1952, it was as "My Man Is Gone"). Geneva's name appears on that side only, but hers is the female voice on "Mr. Johnnie Long Donn Is Dead". Note that "My Man Is Gone" was used in the 2006 film "Capote", where its writer credit had magically changed to Jack Lauderdale.

The main artist on both sides was the shadowy Emanon Trio (for those who aren't dyslexic, it's "no name" spelled backwards) also from the Oakland area. They consisted of piano, guitar, and bass, but the only members ever named were: Travis Isaac Warren (piano) and Allen Vernon Gower (bass) - they were the writers of "Johnnie". (Those two copyrighted another song in 1950, along with Walter Alfred Mitchell, who was in the 1950 census in San Francisco as a "musician"; I'll tentatively name him as the group's guitarist.)

There's only a single documented appearance of Geneva with the Emanon Trio. On March 5 and 6, 1953, they appeared together at Club Tops, in Vallejo, California.

The record was reviewed in the January 17, 1953 Billboard:

Mr. Johnnie Long Donn Is Dead (78): Here's an interesting disk with potential. Side opens with a wild shooting that follows a cafe argument. Then comes the music, followed by a conversational postlude. Could happen.

My Man Is Gone (76): Slow blues is played in after hours fashion by the Emanon Trio. Off-mike vocal by Geneva Vallier adds flavor. A pleasant side.

I don't understand the phrase "off-mike vocal". The audio sounds normal to me.

From November 20-22, 1953, she appeared at the Rumpus Room in Vallejo, California (north of San Francisco, near Mare Island).

The April 24, 1954 Chicago Defender said:

Talented Geneva Vallier, billed as "Queen Of Song", is shown boarding a plane in San Francisco en route to Portland, Oregon for an engagement at that city's Tropical Club. Miss Vallier, besides being one of the West Coast's top singers is equally well known for the fine wardrobe she possesses. The artist hails from Beaumont, Texas.

While there were no ads for the Tropical Club (but plenty of space given to the Tropical Fish Club), there was one for Piluso's (in Eugene, Oregon), where she appeared, starting June 21, along with Nat "King' Cole's brother, Eddie Cole (and his Loose Nuts And A Bolt). Eddie Cole was held over for another week, but Geneva wasn't. This is the only documented appearance I could find outside California.

From October 15-17, 1954, Geneva was back at the Rumpus Room in Vallejo, California.


And then, the most ink ever used on Geneva. The December 4, 1954 Pittsburgh Courier had a big spread titled "Ex-Frisco Property Owner Wills Singer $1/4 Million" It was subtitled "Cadillac, Diamond Ring, 6 Homes, Land To Corlett's Friend".

Shirley Corlett, a local "businessman" (I suppose the word "crook" isn't totally out of the question) had died in October. Called the "Lord Of The Fillmore District" (in San Francisco), he was in a Federal prison at the time of his death, serving a term for income tax evasion. All her bequests were supposedly worth in the neighborhood of $250,000. Of course, these things tend to be wildly overestimated, but the question remains: Why? There was nothing before or after that linked their names.

But riches or not, Geneva had another recording session, this time at John Dolphin's Cash Label (again in Los Angeles). Waxed in the spring of 1955, and released in May, the biggie was "You Said You Had A Woman (I Got A Woman)", an answer to the Ray Charles #1 hit, which was actually titled "I've Got A Woman". Amazingly, although it was based on Charles' song (which he wrote), he was given writer credit for the song. The flip, "Geneva's Blues", was another tune that she'd written.

On June 24-26, Geneva appeared at Los Angeles' 5-4 Ballroom, along with the Medallions and the Johnny Fuller band. On July 4, those three acts, along with the Charles Brown Trio, appeared at a dance held at L.A.'s Elks Auditorium.

She was back up north on February 4, 1956, when she opened at the Lucky Hour Club in Fresno. She was called "Queen Of Blues" and had three shows "nightly", but there was only the one ad. The ad called her the "Singing Star Of Sugar Ray Robinson's Show", but there's nothing else that links their names.

One last recording session. Around September 1956, she recorded a couple of tunes, along with Clarence "Candyman" McGuirt And His Band, for Bob Geddins' Irma label (named after Geddins' wife) from Oakland. They were released in October.

One side was a conventional song, "Sunny Day", which Geneva wrote. The flip, called "He's A Friend", was basically an advertisement for Adlai Stevenson, who was running for president against Dwight Eisenhower. The labels for that song are strange. Some labels don't mention her name at all and some that do have a stamp that says "Dedicated to Adlai E. Stevenson". The song is based on the 1955 Les Baxter smash hit, "Wake The Town And Tell The People". However, neither the song nor Stevenson was a smash hit.

Nothing more until the August 30, 1958 San Francisco Examiner told us that Geneva was appearing at Ann's 440 Club in San Francisco. She was still there in the middle of November.

A large gap. Geneva isn't heard from again until, June 10, 1961, when she appeared at The Country Club in Bayshore City (part of San Mateo, California). She was also there on June 17.

From late November 1962 to January 1963, she was at the Derby in Redwood City, California (south of San Francisco). That's the last appearance I can find for Geneva Vallier.

Then, her life becomes confusing (at least to me). On April 7, 1967, she gave birth to a son, Major Austin Eberhart III in Galveston, Texas. Since both she and the father (who'd been born in Birmingham, Alabama) lived in Northern California, I have no idea why the child was born in Galveston. Note that she was 42 at the time. They weren't married (yet), but that only leads to more confusion.

As Geneva Griffin, she married Major A. Eberhart, Jr, on August 19, 1974, in San Francisco. However [don't you hate that word?], she told Social Security that she was Geneva Eberhart in January 1969! Are you as confused as I am? Closing that chapter, they divorced on September 2, 1980.

I don't know what happened to their child. When Major A. Eberhart, Sr died in 1972, his son was mentioned, but no grandchildren.

As Geneva Eberhart, she died on June 28, 1998, in Victorville, California (near Los Angeles). As is too often the case, there was no obituary. Since her Social Security record says that she applied to start collecting in 1973 (when she was only 48), I guess she suffered from some disability that kept her from working.

Geneva Vallier had an odd career: few records and few appearances (and not a single review of any performance). Yet she managed to stretch that career out over 15 years.


Special thanks to Victor Pearlin and Opal Louis Nations.


   UNRELEASED RPM (Geneva Vallier; probably recorded in late 1951)
      Bowlegged Woman
      Daybreak Blues

SWING TIME (Emanon Trio - vocal by Geneva Vallier)
322 Mr. Johnnie Long Donn Is Dead / My Man Is Gone - ca. 11/52

CASH (Geneva Vallier)
1009 Geneva's Blues / You Said You Had A Woman (I Got A Woman) - ca. 5/55

IRMA (Geneva Vallier With Candyman McGuirt And His Band)
104 He's A Friend / Sunny Day - ca. 10/56

JASMINE JASMCD3264 - Deep Sea Divas - Cryin' The Blues - May 2023
      Bow Legged Boogie (note title change; it was copyrighted as "Bowlegged Woman")
      Daybreak Blues
            These are the unreleased RPM sides