Son of Sugar Hill label founders sentenced
Son of Sugar Hill Records label founder sentenced to probation on tax charges
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- The son of the founders of the Sugar Hill Records hip-hop recording label has been sentenced to probation for failing to file taxes.
Federal prosecutors say Rhondo Robinson was sentenced Wednesday to three years' probation, including three months of home confinement. He also was fined $25,000
Robinson and two other siblings had pleaded guilty last year for failing to file taxes between 2005 and 2007.
His siblings, Joseph and Leland Robinson, had each received three years' probation and three months' home confinement when they were sentenced in May.
All three siblings had faced up two years in prison.
The men's primary source of income was royalties from the label their parents founded in 1979, prosecutors have said. The men also made money as copyright administrators for different recording artists.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has said the Robinsons' failure to file tax returns resulted in nearly $1.3 million in tax loses to the government.
The Sugar Hill label was best known for releasing "Rapper's Delight," rap's first mainstream success. The company continued to play a part in the early years of hip-hop with a roster that included Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five. The label amassed an extensive music catalogue from 1979 until 1986.
The men's mother, Sylvia Robinson, who had a hit as a singer-songwriter with the sexually charged "Pillow Talk," and who some called "the mother of hip-hop" died in 2011.
