{"id":12040,"date":"2025-04-10T12:02:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/?p=12040"},"modified":"2025-04-10T12:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T12:02:10","slug":"alice-tan-ridley-americas-got-talent-singer-and-gabourey-sidibes-mother-dies-at-72","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/archives\/12040","title":{"rendered":"Alice Tan Ridley, America\u2019s Got Talent Singer and Gabourey Sidibe\u2019s Mother, Dies at 72"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alice Tan Ridley.\n
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Ridley sang in New York City subways before breaking out with a performance on \u2018America\u2019s Got Talent\u2019 in 2010\n
Alice Tan Ridley, the mother of actress\u00a0Gabourey Sidibe, has died. She was 72.\n
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According to an\u00a0obituary, she died on March 25 in New York City.\n
Ridley was not just known for being the mother of the award-winning\u00a0Precious star, 41, but was a force in her own right and regarded as a talented singer.\n
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Gabourey Sidibe and mother Alice Tan Ridley, 2011 National Art Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street.\u00a0\n
The Georgia native was known as a powerhouse performer, who could often be seen singing in New York subways. In 2010, Ridley was nationally recognized for her gift when\u00a0she performed on\u00a0America\u2019s Got Talent.\n
\u201cAlice is just brilliant,\u201d judge Piers Morgan said after she sang \u201cAt Last.\u201d\n
Howie Mandel seemed impressed by Ridley\u2019s progression on the singing competition show, saying, \u201cEvery time she moves on, it\u2019s heartwarming and moving.\u201d\n
Ridley was born on Dec. 21, 1952, and came from a big family. She was the seventh of eight children.\n
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Alice Tan Ridley, August 2016.\n
The singer graduated from the Stewart County High School in 1969, and went on to get her teaching license from the New York State Board of Education. She taught at PS 134, her obituary said.\n
Ridley married the\u00a0Empire\u00a0actress\u2019 father, Ibnou Sidibe, in 1980, and welcomed Sidibe in 1983. The former couple also welcomed son Ahmed Sidibe before they ultimately divorced.\u00a0Still, the former couple remained cordial as the years went on.\n
According to her obituary, Ridley was known as \u201ca pillar of the New York City singing circuit,\u201d where she could primarily be seen singing at Herald Square for over 30 years.\n
She also worked at Harlem\u2019s Cotton Club as a paid singer.\n
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Gabourey Sidibe and her mother Alice Tan Ridley, October 2009.\n\n\n
In addition to her subway performances and competing on\u00a0AGT, Ridley also appeared on\u00a0Showtime at the Apollo\u00a0in 2005 and was featured in photographer David LaChapelle\u2019s award-winning documentary\u00a0Rize\u00a0that same year.\n
Her accolades included an Emmy for her role in the 2007 documentary\u00a0Military Families.\u00a0She released her debut studio album\u00a0Never Lost My Way\u00a0in 2016.\n
Israeli student Dvir Assouline started managing Ridley in 2010 after witnessing the crowds she would draw in subways. \u201cWhenever I saw her performing, there were always hundreds of people around her,\u201d he previously told\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cShe brought joy to so many people every day.\u201d\n
Ridley is survived by two brothers \u2014 James D. \u201cJimmy\u201d Ridley and Tommy Lee \u201cTom-Tom\u201d Cherry \u2014 and two sisters, Julia Van Mater-Miller and Mildred Ridley Dent, along with twin grandchildren, Cooper and Maya, and a host of relatives.\n
Memorial Trees can be planted in memory of Ridley and can be purchased at the Sympathy Store, per her obituary.\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alice Tan Ridley. Ridley sang in New York City subways before breaking out with a performance on \u2018America\u2019s Got Talent\u2019 in 2010 Alice Tan Ridley, the mother of actress\u00a0Gabourey Sidibe, … \n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12042,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12040\/revisions\/12042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scenicwhispers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}