By Oscar Holland, CNN
(CNN) — John Frieda, the celebrity hairstylist whose eponymous product range — its beloved Frizz Ease serum, especially — proved a commercial sensation, has died aged 75.
The British entrepreneur, who counted Madonna and Princess Diana among his clients, died “peacefully” and “surrounded by his family,” according to a statement posted to his Instagram by his London salon on Wednesday.
“His talent and passion touched so many, and his legacy will live on in every single one of us,” the statement added, describing Frieda as “a true icon of the hair industry.” His stepdaughter Agnelli Lagrange also confirmed the news on social media, where she called him “the best man to ever exist.” Neither statement specified a cause of death.
The son of a hairdresser (and the grandson of a barber), Frieda was born Alan Howard Frieda in London in 1951. He started going by the name John after joining London’s famous House of Leonard, because the salon already employed an Alan.
From the late 1960s, as assistant to the salon’s owner Leonard Lewis, Frieda helped style hair for some of the era’s biggest names, including Mick Jagger, Twiggy and Jackie Kennedy Onassis. In 1976, then only in his mid-20s, Frieda opened his own salon in London’s West End. That year, he invented the “Purdey” — a chic take on a bowl cut — for actor Joanna Lumley, who famously wore the style in the TV spy series “The New Avengers.”
Frieda expanded his celebrity clientele in the 1980s, working with stars including Princess Diana, Madonna and Paul McCartney, as well as styling for television and fashion editorials. He opened a second location in London’s exclusive Mayfair neighborhood, but his ambitions went beyond the salon business.
“Although it was a lot of fun and very interesting — and I felt that I’d had a certain amount of success and done very, very well — I wasn’t really challenged enough,” he told CNN in 2007, recalling his early career. “Particularly, I didn’t feel I was mentally challenged enough. It was at that moment when I decided that I would start my own product range.”
In 1989, Frieda teamed up with beauty entrepreneur Gail Federici to launch a consumer haircare line, John Frieda Professional Hair Care. Having successfully debuted the company’s signature product, Frizz Ease, in the UK, the pair launched the range in 1990.
Designed to be applied to wet hair after shampooing, the anti-frizz serum’s promise was straightforward: “Frizz Ease turns dry frizzy hair into smooth shiny hair quickly,” Frieda told American viewers in a 1993 commercial. It flew off the shelves, effectively launching a new category of haircare products that did not previously exist.
By then living in the US, Frieda expanded his salon business throughout the 1990s, opening locations in New York and LA. His eponymous brand also used the success of Frizz Ease to expand its offering, including products aimed at specific hair colors — like the popular Sheer Blonde line, launched in 1998.
In 2002, Frieda and Federici sold their company to the Japanese chemical and cosmetics firm Kao Corporation for $450 million. Last year, the UK’s Sunday Times Rich List listed Frieda’s wealth at £150 million ($202 million).
Frieda married Scottish singer Lulu, with whom he shares a son, in 1977. He is also survived by his second wife Avery Agnelli, the widow of Fiat heir Giovanni Agnelli, and their two children.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
The post John Frieda, celebrity hairstylist and haircare mogul, dead at 75 appeared first on KRDO.
