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Lauryn Hill, Grammy winner, charged with evading income tax for three years

Five-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill at a concert in Detroit's Chene Park on June 4, 2011 Kevin Winter/Getty Images

(CBS/AP) NEWARK, N.J. - The IRS says five-time Grammy winner and critically acclaimed hip-hop singer Lauryn Hill failed to file income taxes for several years, the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey announced Thursday.

Federal prosecutors said Hill earned more than $1.6 million during the three years she failed to file tax returns between 2005 and 2007. Her primary source of income is royalties from the recording and film industries. According to court papers, Hill also owns and operates four corporations.

The 37-year-old got her start with The Fugees. She began her solo career in 1998 with the critically acclaimed album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," which was praised for its incisive lyrics and synthesis of rap and soul. The album sold 8 million copies.

After Time Magazine pronounced Hill as the face of "The Hip-Hop Nation," she largely disappeared from public view to raise her six children - five of whom she had with Rohan Marley, the son of famed reggae singer Bob Marley.

Hill resides in South Orange, a suburb near Newark. She is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate on June 29.

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