John Frieda, who channeled his talent and charm into high-end salons and a multimillion-dollar professional hair care business, has died aged 75.

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.

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.

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