Freddie Mercury Google Doodle 

  Google is celebrating the 65th birthday of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury with a cartoon video doodle set to the band's 1978 hit, "Don't Stop Me Now."
Mercury's birthday was actually September 5, and the doodle ran on Google's international sites yesterday, but the search giant held it until today in the U.S. so as not to conflict with Labor Day.
The Google.com homepage features images of Mercury and a "play" button in the middle. Press it to watch a 98-second YouTube video (below) that pays tribute to Mercury, who died of AIDS-related bronchopneumonia in 1991.
The video features Mercury and his Queen bandmates performing onstage with a glittering Google logo behind them. Following the lyrics of the song, Mercury then becomes a "shooting star leaping through the skies," and finds himself in an old-school video game, riding a tiger, driving a race car, and manning a spaceship. Mercury returns to the stage for one last encore as the song, and then the Google logo, fade out.
Google doodler Jennifer Hom told NBC's Bay Area affiliate that her team spent about three months working on the Mercury doodle, studying old albums and videos. They selected "Don't Stop Me Now" because it was a top-10 hit for the band, and because it was written by Mercury. It was also the first Queen song to be released on cassette tape.
Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in the British protectorate of Zanzibar. He lived there and in India until the age of 17, when he and his family fled to London due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. He earned a degree in art and graphic design from Ealing Art College, but had a natural talent for music. He was in a number of bands throughout the 60s before founding Queen in the early 70s with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor; John Deacon later joined as bass guitarist.
The group signed a recording contract with EMI in 1973 and released their debut album, Queen, that same year. Throughout the 70s and early 80s, they had a string of hits in the U.K. and abroad, including "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Will Rock You," and "We are the Champions."
Though Mercury was known to be quite shy, he came alive on stage, showcasing his vocal abilities and flair for the dramatic. In 1976, the group gave a free concert in London's Hyde Park to an estimated crowd of 200,000 fans. Almost 10 years later, in 1985, Mercury and the band once again wowed the crowd at Live Aid from Wembley Stadium.

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Mercury also pursued a solo career, producing two full albums, 1985's Mr. Bad Guy and 1988's Barcelona, which he recorded with opera singer Montserrat Caballé.
In his later years, Mercury was plagued by rumors about his health. Though his partner, Jim Hutton, reportedly said Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, Mercury did not make the news public until November 22, 1991.
"Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me," Mercury said in a statement. "However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors, and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue."
Just one day after that announcement was made, Mercury passed away at his home in London. The following year, the remaining members of Queen and their manager, Jim Beach, set up the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which sought to raise money and awareness about AIDS in Mercury's memory. Since 1992, the organization has donated more than $15 million in the fight against AIDS and made over 750 grants to charities worldwide.
In a guest post on the official Google blog, Brian May wrote that "Freddie was fully focused, never allowing anything or anyone to get in the way of his vision for the future. He was truly a free spirit. There are not many of these in the world. To achieve this, you have to be, like Freddie, fearless—unafraid of upsetting anyone's apple cart."
May disputed the idea that Mercury was "fiery, difficult diva who required everyone around him to compromise." Instead, "Freddie was always the one who could find the compromise—the way to pull it through. If he found himself at odds with any one of us, he would quickly dispel the cloud with a generous gesture, a wisecrack or an impromptu present," May wrote.
"He lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute," May concluded. "And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come."
In a Monday statement, the Mercury Phoenix Trust said it is "incredibly excited that Google is celebrating the 65th birthday of legendary musician and pioneer Freddie Mercury with a fun, quirky, animated tribute to the Queen frontman. This worldwide tribute from Google is something that doesn't happen very often."
The trust also put together its own 65th birthday video featuring performance and interview footage from Mercury's career. "We are just going to keep it simple and wish Freddie a great day," the organization said.
On Monday, meanwhile, Taylor and May hosted a party in Mercury's honor at The Savoy Hotel. A number of Queen reissues also hit stores, including the band's final five albums with bonus tracks. Universal also released Queen's 1976 Wembley show on DVD.
Google previously produced a live-action doodle for Charlie Chaplin's 122nd birthday in April. In October 2010, meanwhile, the search giant also produced a video tribute to John Lennon on his 70th birthday. For more on Google's doodles, see the slideshow above. One of the company's more recent popular doodle was a playable image in honor of musician Les Paul, which eventually got its own standalone site. The search giant also celebrated the year's first total lunar eclipse with a doodle that included a live feed of the event.
Recently, it was revealed that Google obtained a patent for its popular homepage doodles, covering "systems and methods for enticing users to access a Web site."