Let’s do a quick status check on these over-50 Detroit celebrities

Let’s do a welfare check on some Detroit celebrities who we hold near and dear to our hearts. 2016 might have been a cruel and heartless bitch, snatching up many of our pop culture favorites one by one, but it doesn’t mean that everyone is gone. There are plenty of beloved stars out and about living full, healthy lives with so much more to offer.

Aretha Franklin

Status: Alive

Last seen: Hosting a lavish Christmas party last week — here she is pictured with PULSEBEAT.TV host Greg Dunmore. Although the Queen gave us a health scare a few years back when she announced a battle with pancreatic cancer, Franklin has (to our knowledge) overcome and is doing fine, as proven by her performance of the National Anthem at a Lions game last month.

Stevie Wonder

Status: Alive

Last seen: Last week during a street-naming ceremony in his honor in Detroit. Having lost musical icons like Prince, David Bowie and George Michael, it’s natural for us to wonder about Wonder’s health. But if he could survive last week’s freezing temps, something tells us he’ll be just fine for awhile longer.

Diana Ross

Status: Alive

Last seen: Being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in late November. Ross hasn’t exactly been laying low – her performance at Chene Park this summer was a coup for the event venue’s organizers and a first for the Motown diva. But much of her time lately is spent on her kids, such as cheering on daughter Tracee on her Emmy nomination this year.

Otis Williams

Status: Alive

Last seen: On Facebook. The last original Temptation seems to be active on social media, with friends tagging him in Motown memories. Facebook is generally where we hear an “R.I.P.” first, and thankfully he hasn’t been tagged in any status of that nature.

Abdul “Duke” Fakir

Status: Alive

Last seen: Also on Facebook. The only surviving member of the Four Tops celebrated his 81^st birthday on December 26, and the well wishes came pouring in.

Martha Reeves

Status: Alive

Last seen: At Bert’s Warehouse. Reeves dropped by the BLAC office this summer to promote her 75th birthday bash held at Bert’s later that week. She travels back and forth between Detroit and England, where Northern Soul aficionados keep the Vandellas’ music alive.

Della Reese

Status: Alive

Last seen: In August at “Touched By an Angel” co-star Roma Downey’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Reese, the Black Bottom native who went on to a successful career in music, movies and TV, has been battling diabetes for nearly 20 years. At Downey’s Walk of Fame celebration, fans were surprised to see she had been in a wheelchair.

Anita Baker

Status: Alive

Last seen: On Twitter. We haven’t seen The Songstress in the studio (a long-awaited album announced years ago has yet to materialize), but we know Baker has been in her living room cheering on the Lions, frequently live-tweeting every game.

(Most of) The DeBarge Family

Status: Alive

Last seen: Everywhere. Save for Bobby DeBarge, who died in 1995, the Detroit-born, Grand Rapids-raised singing siblings are alive and kicking on various platforms. El DeBarge still tours and plays shows, and just posted a handsome Christmas selfie; James DeBarge is still trying to convince us he and Janet Jackson have a baby via his actual daughter’s reality show; Bunny DeBarge is active on two Facebook accounts; and Chico DeBarge was a guest (randomly) on Fox 2’s morning show earlier this year.

Dennis Archer

Status: Alive

Last seen: Discussing local politics on the national stage. Detroit’s former mayor appeared a few times — once on CNN, another time for the Michigan Chronicle (seen above) — in the weeks before America elected a vain, clueless white supremacist/sexual predator to the White House to talk about Detroit’s role in the election.

Berry Gordy

Status: Alive

Last seen: We weren’t there, but likely at the funeral of his younger sister, Raynoma, who died last month. Other than that, “Motown the Musical” has kept Gordy, one of the show’s producers, busy, as the show announces a national tour kicking off in January.

Carmen Harlan

Status: Alive

Last seen: America’s Thanksgiving Parade last month. Harlan might be off air, but rest assured her retirement from WDIV probably isn’t slowing her down. Expect the broadcast staple to make plenty of appearances at charity functions, women’s organizations and banquets and brunches, as many personalities tend to do when they reach that stage of their career.

Madonna

Status: Alive

Last seen: Yeah, we might as well throw her old ass in here, too. But since so many ‘80s icons are dying out, it’s natural to want to wonder about Madge. She’s fine, as evidenced by her tweets and continued delusions of youth.