Alice Elizabeth Thompson was born in Natchez, Mississippi around 1909. Mrs. Thompson moved to the Detroit area in 1943. While in Michigan, Mrs. Thompson earned a Masters Degree in Education from Wayne State University. She also taught in the Ecorse public school system for 28 years. Little is known concerning her family except that she was married to Oscar Thompson.

Mrs. Thompson began writing verses and stories as a child and in 1958 began writing songs. Her songs include "Clap Your Hands," "Hello Everybody," and "Hold Me in the Palm of Your Hands." Her lyrics are accompanied by tunes that she picks out at the piano. She says that her talent was inherited from her musician father and elocutionist mother. She is also known for her books, such as "Look At Your Hands" and "There is Nothing for Sale in a Grave", and poetry which includes works paying tribute to John F. Kennedy, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr.