Tributes paid to celebrity hairstylist John Frieda who has died aged 75

Tributes have been paid to British celebrity hairstylist and beauty brand entrepreneur John Frieda who has died aged 75.

His clients included Madonna, Twiggy, Sir Mick Jagger and Diana, Princess of Wales.

In a post on Instagram, his eponymous hair salon said Frieda was surrounded by his family when he "passed away peacefully" and called him a "mentor" who was a "true icon of the hair industry".

Model and TV personality Jo Wood, who is also the ex-wife of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, called the news "so sad" and recalled Frieda doing her hair when she was aged 16.

She added: "He was so great… we would go to the pub after… but I couldn't drink. RIP John it was lovely to know you."

Beauty entrepreneur and TV presenter Trinny Woodall said: "Sending so much love to you all."

Cetera Lamb, the creative director at Frieda's London salon, said the industry has "lost a true legend, a real maverick".

Born Alan Howard Frieda in London in 1951, his father was a hairdresser who owned a salon in Ealing, while his grandfather was a Fleet Street barber.

After working for his father, Frieda joined the London hair salon House Of Leonard.

He became the assistant of Leonard Lewis, who was credited with creating the haircut that launched the career of model Twiggy, before later working at British Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

In 1976, Frieda invented the "Purdey" hairstyle - creating the bowl cut for Dame Joanna Lumley after she asked him for a schoolboy's haircut for her role in The New Avengers.

That same year, he opened his own salon at the age of 25 and married his first wife, Scottish singer Lulu.

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Throughout the 1980s, Frieda worked with American haircare executive Gail Federici to create his own product line, launching Frizz-Ease in 1988.

After separating from Lulu in 1991, he married Frances Avery Agnelli in 2019.

He sold his haircare product company in 2002 to Japanese conglomerate Kao for $450m (£334m), but retained his five salons - two in London, two in New York and one in Los Angeles.

He is survived by his wife, four children and two grandchildren.

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