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MR. BIGGS HEADED TO PRISON: Ronald Isley sentenced to three years for tax evasion.
*Legendary soul man Ronald Isley, whose silky pipes fronted such songs as “For the Love of You” and “Between the Sheets” with his band the Isley Bros, was sentenced Friday to three years in federal prison for multiple counts of tax evasion.
The 65-year-old was also ordered to pay about $3.1 million to the Internal Revenue Service for what U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson called "pervasive, long-term, pathological" evasion of federal taxes.
Last October, Isley was convicted of five counts of tax evasion and one count of willful failure to file a tax return. During the three-week trial, prosecutors said Isley failed to make any voluntary payments to the IRS between 1976 and 1996. He was also accused of spending millions of dollars in unreported cash payments for performances on a yacht and two homes, and cashed royalty checks belonging to his late brother, O'Kelly, who died of a heart attack in 1986.
In court Friday, Isley’s lawyer tried to argue that the singer had been selling his assets to pay down the IRS debt. The attorney also sought a lesser sentence for Isley due to his medical condition, which includes the effects of a stroke and a recent bout with kidney cancer. Pregerson, however, cited Isley as a “serial tax avoider” in choosing to sentence him to the maximum time under federal sentencing guidelines.
Isley and his brothers Rudolph, Ronald and O'Kelly began singing together as teens in the 1950s in their native Cincinnati. They won a Grammy in 1970 for "It's Your Thing," the biggest hit of their career. The success continued through the 1970s even as the lineup expanded with additional family members and other performers. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
In 1995, Isley’s alter ego “Mr. Biggs” was created during music and video collaborations with R. Kelly.
The Isley Bros. most recent album, "Baby Makin' Music," came out in May, coinciding with the announcement that Ronald Isley and new wife Kandy were expecting a baby in January 2007.
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