death_date death_place birth_place ethnicity name birth_date known_for article_title birth_name occupation
14 october 2013 southfield , michigan , united states texarkana , texas , united states african american maxine powell 30 may 1915 instructing motown artists maxine powell
 maxine blair etiquette instructor , talent agent
maxine powell

maxine powell -lrb- may 30 , 1915 -- october 14 , 2013 -rrb- was an american etiquette instructor and talent agent .
she taught grooming , poise , and social graces to many recording artists at motown in the 1960s .
born maxine blair in texarkana , texas , she was raised by her aunt in chicago , illinois .
she graduated from hyde park high school in 1933 , attended madam c.j. walker 's school of beauty culture , and worked as a manicurist to finance her acting studies ; she also studied elocution and dance .
in the early 1940s she worked as a model and as a personal maid , and developed a one-woman show , `` an evening with maxine powell '' , which she performed with a group at the chicago theatre .
she moved to detroit , michigan in 1945 , and taught self-improvement and modeling classes before opening the maxine powell finishing and modeling school in 1951 .
she bought a large house in 1953 , which became the largest banquet facility in detroit for african americans , and worked as a talent agent , bringing black productions and artists to detroit theaters and placing black models in advertising campaigns .
it was also around this time when she hired a printing business to prepare programs for her annual las vegas-style fashion show .
the business was operated by the family of berry gordy .
she and gordy became friends and , in the early-1960s , he asked her opinion of the young artists that had signed with his record company , motown .
in 1964 , she closed her school to be a consultant to motown 's talent .
when the company expanded into new offices , specifically hitsville u.s.a. , she was hired into the artist personal development department in 1966 to teach artists such as smokey robinson and the miracles , marvin gaye , the jackson 5 and the supremes , whose mary wilson stated powell taught them more than stage presence , but `` tools for us as human beings '' .
in powell 's words , she turned them into performers `` fit for kings and queens . ''
powell left motown in 1969 and began teaching personal development courses from 1971 until 1985 at wayne county community college .
on may 31 , 2013 , powell suffered a fall .
her health steadily declined until her death of natural causes on october 14 , 2013 , at the age of 98 at providence hospital in southfield , michigan .
