Tuesday, October 15, 2013

R.I.P.: Motown’s Maxine Powell

Maxine Powell
Maxine Powell, the finishing-school instructor who infused Motown’s young stars with elegance and poise, died Monday morning at Providence Hospital in Southfield.

She was 98, according to the  Detroit Free Press.

Powell was “peacefully surrounded by Motown family and close friends,” according to a Motown Museum spokeswoman.

Her cause of death was not disclosed, but close friend Beverly Bantom said Powell had been in steadily declining health since a fall on May 31. Powell slipped into a coma Saturday at the hospital.

Powell was enlisted by Motown Records in 1964 to help mold singers such as Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye into performers fit “for kings and queens,” as Powell often put it. She called them her diamonds in the rough, and her training — along with tough love — aimed to polish their posture, diction, stage presence and sense of self-worth.

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