September 5 is the late singer Freddie Mercury‘s 65th birthday.

In honor of the occasion, Google has dedicated their home page to the Queen frontman with a custom Doodle logo that launches a video music tribute when clicked (you can watch the video here below).

Since it’s Labor Day (a major holiday) here in the United States on Monday, September 5, Mercury’s logo won’t appear on the U.S. home page until Tuesday, September 6. You can view it at the UK page, as well as Google’s other international sites.

Also, Queen guitarist Brian May did a guest entry about his friend and bandmate on the Google blog.

Amazon is currently offering up the mp3 version of the Queen song “Seven Seas Of Rhye” from their album Queen II for FREE.

Yes, FREE. Just follow the link and download the song and then it’s yours, you own it. But grab it now, as it’s the Free Song of the Day offer, which means it’s only available for free today, Sunday, May 22, 2011, til midnight tonight PST. [Update: As of Monday 5/23/2011, the song is still listed as FREE!]

Queen II, which was originally released in 1974, is available on CD (Deluxe Version) for $10.57 and as an MP3 Download for $9.49. There’s also a Remastered CD for $16.85, which was released earlier this week.

Also released this week for the band’s 40 anniversary is the Queen 40 Limited Edition Collector’s Box Set, a 10-disc set that contains the band’s first five studio albums remastered in deluxe reissue editions with rare bonus material all in one collectible box with a 24 panel poster. Albums included are Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At the Opera, and A Day At the Races.

If you could pick anyone to play Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in a movie about the band, your brain probably wouldn’t jump to Borat and Bruno star Sacha Baron Cohen at first…but it should.

It’s been announced that Baron Cohen will indeed be playing the flamboyant front man with legendary vocal talents in a new movie being backed by GK Films, Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions, and Queen Films. A script for the movie, which will be about the entire band and not just Mercury, is being written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon). The currently untitled movie will focus on the band toward their peak and building up to their 1985 performance at Live Aid.

Freddie and Me: A Coming of Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody
Written and drawn by Mike Dawson
Bloomsbury Publishing/Macmillan
Cover price: $19.99; Available now

Ever have a favorite band? You have all their albums and seen all their concerts? For this reviewer, it is the Wallflowers and for writer/artist it was and sill is Queen. The mega popular band, led by lead singer Freddie Mercury, was young Mike Dawson‘s favorite band and a huge influence in his life. Just how big of an influence is the subject of his autobiography, Freddie and Me.

Freddie and Me reads a lot like a love letter to the popular band, mostly known for their hit “Bohemian Rhapsody,” even though much of it showcases the life of Dawson. From his first encounter with the band when he was just a small child in England with the help of an cassette tape given to him by his brother, Dawson was hooked the minute he heard them. His love for them stayed with him later on in life, when he moved to the United States the love for the music and Mercury lasted even when Mercury died in the early nineties. Along the way, readers gets a chance to view and experience Dawson’s life, his hardships at school, dealing with feelings as an outsider, falling for his best mate’s girl, and the death of his grandmother. Most importantly, it showcases how Queen changed the life of one boy from Britain.