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Alice Tan Ridley Dies: ‘America’s Got Talent’ Singer, Mother Of Gabourey Sidibe Was 72

Alice Tan Ridley, tmother of actor Gabourey Sidibe and a singer who found national fame in her late 50s on America's Got Talent, died March 25.

Alice Tan Ridley on 'America's Got Talent' (2010)Trae Patton/NBCU Photo Bank Alice Tan Ridley, the mother of Precious and American Horror Story actor Gabourey Sidibe and a singer who performed for several decades in New York City subway stations, Harlem’s Cotton Club and other venues before finding national fame in her late 50s on America’s Got Talent, died Tuesday, March 25, in New York. Performing favorites such as “I Will Always Love You,” “I Will Survive,” “My Heart Will Go On,” and others, Ridley’s powerful vocals became a local sensation that reached wider audiences via YouTube videos. She was featured in a 2010 New York Post article, and that same year auditioned for NBC’s America’s Got Talent with a raise-the-roof performance of the Etta James classic “At Last.”

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