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Arts|Alice Tan Ridley, Subway Singer on ‘America’s Got Talent,’ Dies at 72
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/arts/alice-tan-ridley-dead.html
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The mother of the actress Gabourey Sidibe, she spent decades singing full time as an underground busker in New York City.
Published April 11, 2025Updated April 12, 2025, 11:44 a.m. ET
Alice Tan Ridley, who rose to fame after decades singing for tips in the New York City subway with an unexpected run on the television show “America’s Got Talent,” died on March 25 in New York City. Ms. Ridley, who was the mother of the Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, was 72.
Her family announced the death in an obituary published online. It did not cite a cause or say where in New York City she died.
Ms. Ridley’s public life as a singer began underground in the mid-1980s, and she spent decades belting out songs in New York City subway stations. At first the subway busking was meant to supplement income from her day job in education. Eventually she quit her job to sing full time.
In her early days of busking, the performances were collaborations with her brother Roger Ridley and their cousin Jimmy McMillan, the political activist who would become famous for founding the Rent Is Too Damn High Party in New York.
“We are not homeless,” Ms. Ridley told “Good Morning America” in 2010, referring to buskers. “We are not beggars. And we’re not under drug influence, you know? There are traditional jobs, and there are nontraditional jobs.”
She compared busking in New York to “being in a cathedral.”
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “There’s just music all over this city, and especially down underground.”
