Alice “Tan” Ann Ridley-Sidibe, mom to Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe and a contestant on NBC’s competition series America’s Got Talent, has died, according to her family. She was 72.
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Gabourey Sidibe’s family is mourning a loss.
Alice Ann Ridley-Sidibe, mom of the Oscar nominee and a semifinalist on America’s Got Talent in 2010, died March 25, according to her family. She was 72.
Her cause of death was not shared.
Known affectionately by friends and family as “Tan,” Alice—who was also mom to son Ahmed Sidibe, 43, from her marriage to Gabourey’s dad Ibnou Sidibe—was born in Georgia as the seventh of eight children in a very musical family, which inspired her love for performing.
“I come from a huge family that’s been in the world,” she told The New York Times in 2016. “Every one of us sings or plays music.”
Alice later moved to New York City, where she was an educator and performer.
“Tan was a pillar of the New York City singing circuit,” her obituary read. “She sang at various venues to include the subway stations, primarily at Herald Square for over thirty years. She was a paid singer at The Harlem’s Cotton Club for many years.”
Once she moved to New York, Alice appeared on multiple competition series. In fact, she won $25,000 in 2002 on the premiere episode of Fox’s short-lived show 30 Seconds to Fame. She also performed “Amazing Grace” in David LaChapelle’s 2005 documentary Rize, as well as “America the Beautiful” in the 2005 film Heights, which starred Elizabeth Banks and Glenn Close.
After her run on America’s Got Talent, the singer released her debut album Never Lost My Way in 2016, but always remembered her experience as a busker in the New York City subway system.
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“I was a big secret,” she continued to the Times. “I wondered, ‘Why doesn’t somebody introduce me to someone who could help me out?’”
However, once she found success above ground, her feelings shifted. “When I was no longer down under there,” she continued, “I missed it.”
And just as Alice followed in her family’s footsteps, so did Gabourey. Since earning an Oscar nomination for her debut role in the 2009 film Precious, the 41-year-old—who shares twins Cooper and Maya, 12 months, with husband Brandon Frankel—has gone onto star in American Horror Story and Empire. Despite her success, though, she hopes to protect her kids from a public-facing life.
"There's a very strange thing where I'm a mom and I'm a mama bear,” Gabourey told People in an interview published April 5. “I'm protective of my kids, but because of what I do for a living, I kind of expose them to this bigger world that I hope that they never find out.”
She added, “I really would like to hide...the world from my children, and I will for as long as I can."
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