Her daughter Gabourey Sidibe is a breakout Oscar-nominated, critically acclaimed actress, but Alice Tan Ridley is still earning her dough by singing on the NYC subway.
Although her daughter has been rocketed to fame, fortune for her mother may take more time, talent, hustle and luck. Ridley told the NY Post early February “My name is not on Gabby’s paycheck.”
So for now Alice Tan Ridley, a former nursery-school teacher and teacher’s aid, is providing for herself solely by doing what she loves best: belting out a standard. For a while she used to work as a teacher and then go sing in the subway, but now she’s quit that teaching game and entertains on the subway full-time.
If you’re wondering how’s she’s been able to that, obviously you’ve never heard her sing. Just a few listens to the YouTube videos below and your soul will compel you to throw cash at the screen. She’s got a powerful golden-honey jazz/soul voice that’s sweet and powerful enough to rip Susan Boyle to shreds and send her cryin’ for kitty. Simon Cowell, somebody, please give this woman a record deal!
She probably won’t buckle under the pressures of fame either; she practices in a freakin’ subway, where the best and worst of human nature is thrust in her face constantly every day. That’s much more hardcore than chillin’ with your cats.
If you’re in the New York area catch her while you can at 14th Street/Union Square, 34th Street/Sixth Avenue and Times Square/Eighth Avenue subway stations.
A change has already come for her daughter:
Here’s Alice givin’ Whitney a run for her money:
Alice Tan Ridley MySpace
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