Richard Lloyd has died at 75. The guitarist and co-founder of Television, one of the protagonists of New York rock in the Seventies, passed away on Saturday 7 November at his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The family communicated the news to Rolling Stone: next to him were his wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays.
The cause of death was cholangiocarcinoma, a tumor of the biliary tract diagnosed in March 2026. To help him deal with the treatment and expenses related to the disease, a fundraiser had been started on GoFundMe.
With Tom Verlaine, Lloyd had built a way of making two guitars talk that would leave a profound mark. In Marquee Moon, their debut album, the New York rock of the Seventies found a nervous, luminous form, capable of lengthening a song until transforming it into a territory to explore.
Richard Lloyd and Television in CBGB's New York
Born in Pittsburgh on October 25, 1951, Lloyd linked his musical history to New York. In 1973 he joined the Television adventure together with singer and guitarist Tom Verlaine, bassist Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca. The group began performing in 1974 and found CBGB one of the decisive places for its growth.
The Bowery venue was becoming the meeting point of a scene destined to change American music. Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie and Talking Heads would have passed on that stage: different artists, united by the freedom to invent a sound and an identity. Television brought a sensitivity of their own to that ferment, made up of tension, precision and instrumental openness. The urgency of the moment became, in their hands, an investigation into the possibilities of the rock song.
Marquee Moon, the album that changed the language of guitars
When Marquee Moon arrived in 1977, Fred Smith was on bass, having replaced Richard Hell. The album fixed the identity of Television in a balance that is still recognizable today: Lloyd and Verlaine's guitars followed distinct paths, they recalled each other, created friction and sudden openings. The rhythm section held that restless geometry together.
Songs like See No Evil, Venus and Friction showed how much space there could be within a stripped-down lineup. In the long track that gave the album its title, the dialogue between the two guitarists became the very center of the story. Each sentence prepared another turning point, each return of the theme seemed to have gone through something.
This is where Lloyd's role comes into play: his presence was part of the structure, tension and character of those songs. Marquee Moon would become a reference for generations of musicians, from post-punk to alternative rock. Among the artists who have gathered the influence of Television are R.E.M., Sonic Youth and Johnny Marr: different paths that help to measure the extent of that intuition.
From Adventure to the Television reunion
The group's first season was short. In 1978 Adventure was released and, in the same year, Television disbanded. Two albums were enough to give the band a central place in the history of New York rock, while the value of its experience continued to grow among listeners and musicians.
At the beginning of the nineties, Television got back together, releasing their third studio album in 1992, simply titled Television. Lloyd remained in the lineup until 2007, then continuing his own independent path. Verlaine died in January 2023: with Lloyd's passing, the human story of one of the most original guitarist couples of that season also comes to an end.
The solo career and guitars for Matthew Sweet
After the first dissolution of Television, Lloyd made his solo debut with Alchemy, released in 1979. His activity also went through difficult years, marked by drug addiction, before restarting with Field of Fire in 1985 and with the live album Real Time in 1987.
An important chapter was the work with Matthew Sweet. Lloyd's guitar appears on 1991's Girlfriend and the subsequent Altered Beast and 100% Fun. In those songs his inventiveness found another landscape: immediate melodies, electric impetus and pop writing within which to insert personal deviations and sparks. He also collaborated with John Doe and Stephan Eicher, maintaining a recognizable voice even outside of his own records.
