2010-02-09 02:47:22 -

GABOUREY SIDIBE's mum has made singing in New York City subways her full-= time job.
Alice Tan Ridley, a former nursery school teacher, has been belting out= R&B tunes in the subway for 18 years - and she insists she can

support h= erself without relying on her actress daughter, who found fame and landed= an Oscar nomination for her role in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by= Sapphire.
Ridley tells the New York Post, "My name is not on Gabby's paycheck. Fo= r a while, I was teaching and doing the singing, burning the candle at bo= th ends to support my family. When I come home at the end of the day, I h= ave enough to pay my bills and feed my kids. People always say, 'Why don'= t you sing in clubs?' I tell 'em, 'This is my club.'" Ridley is now attempting to raise funds by playing in the underground t= hree times a week so she can buy new equipment and put on even bigger sho= ws.
She explains, "My voice is so big that it's blown out my amp (amplifier= ), so I can't do more than that until I can afford a new amp." (JMA/PYN/P=