LONDON – John Frieda, the celebrity hairstylist who built a multimillion-dollar salon and commercial empire in the U.S. and U.K., has died following a long illness. He was 75.
Frieda found fame at a young age, and later spun it into a fortune, opening high-end salons in London, New York City and Los Angeles, and building John Frieda Professional Hair Care, which was sold to Kao Corp. in 2002 for $450 million.
Following the sale of that company, which Frieda co-founded with Gail Federici in 1989, he continued to oversee the salons, which attracted mega-talents such as Serge Normant, Sally Hershberger and Christophe Robin.
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Over the years, Frieda’s equally star-studded editorial team included Orlando Pita and Kerry Warn. Those stylists worked in state-of-the-art salons with innovations such as video cameras mounted to mirrors. They displayed the client’s image on a TV screen, giving stylists a better perspective and a more detailed view of the hair.
During his long career, Frieda also became a familiar face on both sides of the Atlantic, starring in the TV ads for the professional hair care products.
To compensate for a small advertising budget in the company’s early years, Frieda also used his celebrity status to peddle his wares on talk shows — long before product demonstrations were a hip marketing tool.
“My friends and others were telling me that it wouldn’t be good for my image,” said Frieda. But he was a natural salesman, and Federici described him as the company’s “secret weapon.”
The hair care company’s first success was Frizz Ease, which launched initially in the U.K. at Boots, and then in the U.S. mass market in 1990, becoming a top-selling product worldwide. The company would later add a host of specialized products for colored hair, namely the best-selling Sheer Blonde, which launched in 1998.
Frieda found fame at a young age. His first big success was creating the boyish “Purdey” bowl cut for Joanna Lumley in 1976 for her role in “The New Avengers.” That same year, aged 25, he opened his own salon and married his first wife, Scottish singer Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, known as Lulu.
He was born in London in 1951, and was a third-generation hairstylist. His father owned a salon in Ealing, west London, while his grandfather was a Fleet Street barber.
After working for his father, Frieda joined House of Leonard in London, and became the assistant of Leonard Lewis, creator of Twiggy’s famous cut. He worked for the British magazines and with Lewis’ clients, including Jackie Onassis and Mick Jagger, before opening his own salon.
John Frieda Salon confirmed his death, from an undisclosed illness, late Tuesday.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our dear John passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family,” the salon said in an Instagram post. “John was more than a mentor to us; he was a true icon of the hair industry. He was the person who taught us everything, believed in us, and made us better.”
The post added: “His talent and passion touched so many, and his legacy will live on in every single one of us. We will continue to do him proud.”
Millie Kendall, founder and CEO of the British Beauty Council, described Frieda as an industry icon. “From his legendary ‘Purdey’ cut on Joanna Lumley, to the impeccable service in the salons and his innovation and creation of a new product category with Frizz Ease, he made a significant step-change in how hairdressing, specifically British hairdressing, was seen globally. His passing is a huge loss to our industry, but his legacy will remain,” she said.
Frieda is survived by his wife, Avery Agnelli, four children and two grandchildren. He is also survived by his younger brother Nigel Frieda, the British music producer and founder of the Sugababes.
