September 5th would have been Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday. It's hard to believe that it has been almost 20 years since he passed away. Of course, it's hard to imagine Freddie Mercury as a 65-year-old man.

I don't want this to be a depressing review of his loss and how it affected not only my life, but the lives of so many others. Instead, I want to focus on the positive. Something Freddie always tried to do.

And so, I'm here to tell you that I was right. I was always right.

In 1980 I discovered Queen. And by "discovered" I mean "fell in love with". I loved Queen so much that I got my friends to NOT like Queen because I pushed the music on them so often. I loved that the lead singer had such an incredible voice. I loved that the lead guitarist had built his own guitar. I loved that it had always been the same 4 guys playing this music, and that each one of them wrote the songs on the albums. I loved that they didn't play by the rules, that one song could be metal (Stone Cold Crazy for example) and the next song on the album could be Dear Friends, a gentle lullaby with only piano for an instrument. I loved the harmonies, the creativity, the variety.

Problem was, I felt like I was the only one who saw all of this. Queen were huge all over the world, but in the States, they had lost their audience, partly because of the album Hot Space, partly because of the video for "I Want to Break Free", and partly because music in the States was shifting slowly to new wave, pop, rap, and hair metal.

Then, in 1991, the tide started to shift. Freddie passed away. Barely a blip about it here in the States. I remember him getting a 30 second spot on the news and even MTV seemed busy discussing other things. And then came Wayne's World, with it's famous Bohemian Rhapsody scene. The single was rereleased by the band as a charity single to earn money for AIDS research and it actually charted higher in the U.S.A the second time it was released and made it to number 1 for the second time over in England.

With the loss of Freddie, a benefit concert was planned to continue to raise money for research and to say farewell in style to Queen's former lead singer. The world got to see just how many bands and singers had loved Queen and Freddie, ranging from Metallica to Elton John, from David Bowie to Liza Minelli. Hell, even Liz Taylor showed up for the event, on the same stage as Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath.

And Freddie and the band's popularity has continued to grow. And grow. A hit musical that has been performed all over the world and has been selling out shows in London's West End for over a decade. Brian May and Roger Taylor on American Idol. Queen songs constantly being performed on the hit show Glee. Queen compilations being released featuring everyone from Sum 41 to Yngwie Malmsteen to Gavin DeGraw to Joss Stone. Bonus singles being recorded by bands like My Chemical Romance and Def Leppard. Now their is a Freddie Mercury movie being filmed starring Sasha Baron Cohen.

But what struck me the most this week but a sudden conglomeration of artists and love for Queen and Freddie all materializing at the same time.

It started with an issue of Entertainment Weekly with Justin Timberlake announcing his first album as being A Night at the Opera. Justin Timberlake! It was followed by Brian May performing in London with My Chemical Romance. Brian then jetted off to the States to make a surprise performance on the MTV Video Music Awards with Lady GaGa. Lady GaGa! Who's name comes from the Queen single Radio GaGa! Google changed it's logo for a day to show their love of Freddie Mercury with a specially designed music video for the world to enjoy. The Foo Fighters premiered a video set to the Queen song "Body Language" which announced their Fall tour in the U.S. And artists ranging from Katy Perry (Katy Perry!) to Pat Monahan from Train wished Freddie a happy birthday via video messages.

And all of this within a span of about 10 days. The biggest performers in the world, all sharing a common love for the band called Queen. Suddenly it's cool to be a Queen fan, a Freddie fan.

I knew this 25-years-ago.

Happy Birthday Freddie.