Alice Tan Ridley, Subway Singer on ‘America’s Got Talent,’ Dies at 72
Posted on: Apr 12, 2025 07:55 IST | Posted by: Nytimes
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The overprotect of the actress Gabourey Sidibe, she spent decades vocalizing replete(p) clip as a busker in the New York City subways.
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 in New York.
“We are not homeless,” she 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.”
For Ms. Ridley, singing underground fulfilled a calling. In 2005, she appeared in the film “Heights,” directed by Chris Terrio, as a subway singer.
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