Fugees star Lauryn Hill sentenced to three months in prison over unpaid taxes

Eight-time Grammy Award winning singer Lauryn Hill leaves federal court in Newark, after sentencing in her tax evasion case. Hill was sentenced to three months in prison and an additional three months in home confinement for failing to pay taxes on about (AP)

The Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill has been sentenced to three months in prison for failing to pay taxes on earnings of around $1m.

The 37-year-old singer was also sentenced in Newark, New Jersey, to three additional months of home confinement.

During a forceful statement to the judge, Hill explained she had always meant to eventually pay the taxes but was unable to during a period of time when she dropped out of the music business. Before the sentencing, her lawyer had said Hill had paid more than 970,000 dollars (£624,000) to satisfy the state and federal tax liabilities.

Ms Hill had faced a maximum sentence of one year each on three counts. Her lawyer had sought probation.

The singer from South Orange, New Jersey, will reportedly be due to prison on 8 July.

Ms Hill burst into mainstream popularity first with The Fugees, and then her 1998 solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" which won the singer five Grammy awards. She has since largely withdrawn from public life while raising her children. Much of her recent earnings are believed to have come from music and film royalties.

She recently posted a new single, her first in several years, called “Neurotic Society,” online. It was accompanied with a message on social media that read: “Here is a link to a piece that I was ‘required’ to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline.”