Don Powell, Chief Executive Officer
A gifted artist, business leader and entrepreneur, Don Powell’s rarefied life in the arts and entertainment world continues to blossom. A Playwright, Theatrical Stage Performer, Television spokesman, Producer, Director, Conductor, and an Apprentice Baritone with The Metropolitan Opera Company, Don also has to his credit 44 Top 10 records, 30 Gold Albums, 19 Platinum Albums, and over 80 professional honors and awards. He has had Top 10 records in each of the last four decades, and 16 #1 singles. As the founding principal at Jetline Creative, Don now brings a wealth of creative experiences and business acumen in making virtual production a reality for clients across the creative spectrum.
Besides being part of the promotional team for The Beatles 1965 tour of the U.S, Powell also helped shape Motown Records, operating in four areas of the company, in artist management, as a writer and producer, working with the label’s president and founder, Berry Gordy. He also secured and managed live appearances for Motown artists Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and the Jackson Five on major national network television shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Kraft Music Hall, American Bandstand, and many others.
As a songwriter, Don co-wrote for numerous artists, including Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Jackson Five, The Four Tops, The Rolling Stones, Al Kooper, Jeff Beck, Gary Glitter, and others. His last year at Motown, he was sent to Los Angeles to expand the west coast office, which became the new headquarters of the company. There, Powell coordinated the release of Sammy Davis Jr.’s album on Motown, while also serving as a member of the Motown production team, The Corporation, which produced the first five number one hits with The Jackson Five. For six months, Mr. Powell commuted between Minneapolis and Los Angeles to vocalize Mr. Wonder, helping him complete his landmark, multi-Grammy award winning album, Songs In The Key of Life. To this day, Don continues as a consultant for the best-selling artist and pop music icon.
During his time at Motown, Mr. Powell became enthusiastically involved with the civil rights movement, marching with Martin Luther King.
After his LA stint with Motown, Powell moved to London to join The Gem Group management-production company with two British friends. That team oversaw record producers as well as artists, including David Bowie, The New Seekers, Gary Glitter, Marianne Faithful, Iggy Pop, Lionel Bart (writer and composer of the musical Oliver). He coordinated Bowie’s first two albums for RCA Records, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.
During the 1980s and ‘90s, he transformed Quazar -- the eight-member family group from Tonga in the south Pacific, living in the Twin Cities -- to The Jets, signing them to MCA Records. The band proceeded to have eight Top 10 hits, including a Grammy nomination, the only internationally successful Polynesian group before or since. During this same period, he also created a duo called Boys Club, who had a Top 10 hit with their first single.
Of late – besides opening The Burbank Studio -- Powell produced a new album in London with international recording stars, The Flirtations, and a new TV pilot in Belfast, Northern Ireland starring a splendid cast of drag queens for a new television series, Heaven! He is also preparing the music for a theatrical project about Cole Porter, which is now in the recording process. A new children’s television show is also in pre-production. And he is beginning work on his memoir. Meanwhile, Powell and Stevie Wonder are writing a new musical for the theatre. This is his 54th year working with the legendary artist.
