As one of the definitive rock icons of our age, the late great Freddie Mercury’s extraordinary talents and influence are still felt in the entertainment world to this day, an unreal 20 years after his sad and untimely death. Only months ago rock fans voted him the Greatest Rock Legend Of All Time, ahead of ELVIS PRESLEY, DAVID BOWIE, JON BON JOVI and JIMI HENDRIX.

Today (September 5th, 2011) would have been Freddie’s 65th birthday and to mark the occasion, family, friends, guests and celebrities from the world over will come together for a suitably lavish night at the Savoy, London, to celebrate this landmark date and to raise funds for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the charity established in Freddie’s name by fellow band members Brian May and Roger Taylor together with manager Jim Beach, to fight HIV AIDS worldwide.

The birthday event will also act as a key focal point in the worldwide campaign Freddie For A Day, which launched last year through the global Queen fan base. Started by a handful of fans who decided it would be fun to dress as Freddie for a day and coerce sponsorship from family and friends for doing so, donating whatever they would raise to the MPT, no one could have imagined the extraordinary response which followed. Fans from 24 countries around the world - from Argentina to Ukraine, jumped on the idea to join in.

In a very rare and extraordinary tribute to Freddie, Google are celebrating his 65th birthday by running a very special doodle on its homepage. The 1:30 clip seeks to capture the dynamism and diversity of Freddie’s career through an animation that’s as colourful and playful as his stage performances.

The doodle created by Google’s in-house team of illustrators, animators and engineers is available for users outside of the US on September 5th, what would have been Freddie’s 65th birthday and will be on Google.com in the US on September 6th as a belated Happy Birthday to Freddie as his birthday since his actual birthday falls on Labor Day.

The Mercury Phoenix Trust 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. Google has previously run video doodles for other legendary entertainers including John Lennon and Charlie Chaplin.