Freddie Mercury’s 65th Birthday: Celebrate with Google Doodle and a Concert

Fred­die Mer­cury, the voice behind so many Queen clas­sics (Bohemi­an Rhap­sody, Crazy Lit­tle Thing Called Love, We Are the Cham­pi­ons), would have turned 65 today, an age that means offi­cial retire­ment for most, but not for rock ‘n roll leg­ends. To cel­e­brate the mile­stone, Google has adorned its home­page with a col­lage of Fred­die doo­dles, and released a relat­ed trib­ute video that brings the doo­dles to life. (Note: the doo­dles will grace US Google pages tomor­row — after Labor Day.)

If Queen was before your time, or if you nev­er quite under­stood the band’s appeal, then let us bring you back to their hey­day. First, Queen steal­ing the show at Live Aid in 1985. Bri­an May (now an astro­physi­cist and Chan­cel­lor of Liv­er­pool John Moores Uni­ver­si­ty) plays gui­tar along­side Fred­die. Find the remain­ing parts of the per­for­mance here, here, here, and here.

And next Queen’s leg­endary 1986 con­cert at Wem­b­ley Sta­di­um, which runs 90+ min­utes. This video was released by Queen’s YouTube Chan­nel, and it will only be avail­able online today…

If you’re now a con­vert­ed Queen fan, just sit tight. A biopic with Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) play­ing Fred­die Mer­cury will be released next sum­mer.