Mother Of ‘Precious’ Star Gabourey Sidibe Sings In NYC Subway For A Living: ‘My Name Isnt On Her Paychecks”

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This is sad to believe but the post reports:
Her kid’s an Oscar contender, but this proud Harlem mom is still happily singing for her supper in the subway.

Alice Tan Ridley — whose 26-year-old daughter, Gabourey Sidibe, won raves and an Academy Award nomination for her gut-wrenching performance in last year’s “Precious” — shows up three times a week at New York’s busiest subway stations to wow commuters with her electrifying R&B act.

“My name is not on Gabby’s paycheck,” the good-natured Ridley told The Post yesterday, after another rousing show in the Times Square underground.

Ridley, a former nursery-school teacher and Department of Education teacher’s aide, has been belting out tunes in the subway for 18 years. She was among the first artists featured in the MTA’s popular subway artists series, now called Performances in Public Spaces.

“For a while, I was teaching and doing the singing, burning the candle at both ends to support my family,” Ridley said.

She eventually made subway singing a full-time job.