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| 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
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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