Alice Tan Ridley, the mother of Precious and American Horror Story actor Gabourey Sidibe and a singer who performed for several decades in New York City subway stations, Harlem’s Cotton Club and other venues before finding national fame in her late 50s on America’s Got Talent, died Tuesday, March 25, in New York.
Her death was announced by her family. A cause was not stated.
Born Alice Ann Ridley in what was then called Charles Junction (now Lumpkin), Georgia, on December 21, 1952, Ridley, called Tan by family and friends, was the seventh of eight children, and in 1971 moved to New York to teach special-needs children. For years she sang with family members, including brother Melton Lee Ridley Jr., but only turned her focus to a music career in 1992 when she began busking in the subways, singing full time in the Union Square, 34th Street and Times Square stations.
Performing favorites such as “I Will Always Love You,” “I Will Survive,” “My Heart Will Go On,” and others, Ridley’s powerful vocals became a local sensation that reached wider audiences via YouTube videos. She was featured in a 2010 New York Post article, and that same year auditioned for NBC’s America’s Got Talent with a raise-the-roof performance of the Etta James classic “At Last.”
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While her ATG Season 5 performance – she made it to the semifinals – was perhaps her most impactful career moment, Ridley had several brushes with national fame years before. In 2002, she was the winner on the first episode of Fox’s short-lived 30 Seconds to Fame, taking home the prize of $25,000. Three years later was a contestant on Showtime at the Apollo and her music was featured in David LaChapelle’s documentary Rize as well as the feature film Heights.
Six years after her ATG performance, Ridley, at age 63, Ridley released her debut studio CD Never Lost My Way. She continued to perform in venues around the world until she retired in 2018 due to health issues.
In addition to daughter Gabourey Sidibe and son Ahmed Sidibe – both from her marriage to Ibnou Sidibe, which ended in divorce – survivors include brothers James D. “Jimmy” Ridley and Tommy Lee “Tom-Tom” Cherry; sisters Julia Van Mater-Miller and Mildred Ridley Dent; two grandchildren and other extended family.
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