She was born in Forest Gate, Essex, England, the daughter of Alfred and Amy Ripley, and was educated at St. Edmund Roman Catholic School, East Ham, and at Clark's Business College.
She sang with all the leading orchestras, under conductors including Adrian Boult, Malcolm Sargent, Thomas Beecham, Charles Thornton Lofthouse, Serge Koussevitzky, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Victor de Sabata.
In the 1942 film The Great Mr. Handel, Ripley was the singing voice of the character Mrs. Cibber, played by Elizabeth Allan.
Albums The Rio Grande, Philharmonia Chorus, Gladys Ripley, Kyla Greenbaum, Constant Lambert (conductor) Lambert: Composer, Vol.2 Pearl Dido and Aeneas Isobel Baillie (Belinda), Edith Coates (Sorceress), Joan Fullerton, Edna Hobson.
Gladys Ripley (Second Witch), Sylvia Patriss (Spirit), Trefor Jones (Sailor), Joan Hammond (Dido), Dennis Noble (Aeneas), Constant Lambert (conductor) Samson et Dalila Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Gladys Ripley, Malcolm Sargent (conductor) Stars of English Opera, Vol.4 Dutton Laboratories Don Carlo Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent (conductor).