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Alice Tan Ridley, who rose to fame after decades singing for tips in the New York City subway with an unexpected run in 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.
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 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.
She compared busking in New York to “being in a cathedral.”
For Ms. Ridley, singing underground fulfilled a calling. In 2005, she appeared in the film “Heights,” directed by Chris Terrio, as a subway singer.
Her big break came that year when she auditioned for “America’s Got Talent.” Typically, most contestants on competition shows are younger, but Ms. Ridley was in her late 50s. In her audition, she impressed the judges with her rendition of the Etta James classic “At Last.” She would be eliminated in the semifinals, but not before delivering other highly praised performances, including renditions of “Proud Mary” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
The talent show stint kicked off her career above ground, and she began touring worldwide. Finding the travel grueling, Ms. Ridley returned to busking in 2014.
“People always say, ‘Why don’t you sing in clubs?’” Ms. Ridley told The New York Post in 2010. “I tell them, ‘This is my club.’”
She compared busking in New York to “being in a cathedral.”
Her big break came that year when she auditioned for “America’s Got Talent.” Typically, most contestants on competition shows are younger, but Ms. Ridley was in her late 50s. In her audition, she impressed the judges with her rendition of the Etta James classic “At Last.”
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