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Video: Google doodles for Freddie Mercury
One of the greatest rock stars of all time would have turned 65 today.
Britain's first Asian rock star Freddie Mercury would have celebrated his 65th birthday on September 5 had he been alive.
Freddie Mercury -- the lead singer of band Queen -- was also a musician and a songwriter. On occasion, though, he was also a producer and a guest musician, playing the piano or singing for other artistes.
Mercury, born in Zanzibar (now a part of Tanzania) to Parsi parents was raised in India, but moved with his family to England when he was 17.
He began dropping his real name Farrokh (Bulsara) and began calling himself Freddie while still in school, which is also where he formed his first band -- The Hectics.
When his family moved to England after the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, he moved with them and earned a diploma in Art Graphic Design at Ealing Art College.
Freddie Mercury's education would later help him design the Queen crest.
After he graduated, Mercury did all kinds of jobs to stay afloat. He sold secondhand clothes in Kensington Market in London, moonlighted for a few bands and is even said to have held at job at the Heathrow Airport.
By April 1970, though, Freddie Mercury had found his calling -- he joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor and formed the band for which he will always be remembered -- Queen. Around this time he also changed his last name to Mercury.
The boy who many remembered as being shy but keenly interested in music, went on to become one of the most flamboyant stage personas, with vocals that ranged over four octaves.
Freddie Mercury composed numerous hits for Queen including Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Somebody to Love, Don't Stop Me Now, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and We Are the Champions.
On November 25, 1991 Freddie Mercury died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS.
The Freddie Mercury doodle is in fact an animated Youtube video, similar to the John Lennon doodle that played 32 seconds of the erstwhile Beatle's most famous number, Imagine.