Guitarist Richard Lloyd, Co-founder of Television, Dies at 75
Richard Lloyd, the influential guitarist and co-founder of the band Television, died at age 75 from bile duct cancer, his family said.
Richard Lloyd, the co-founder and guitarist of the pioneering punk band Television, died on Saturday morning at his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the age of 75. His family said the cause was cholangiocarcinoma, a bile duct cancer, and that his wife Sheila and their dog Willie Mays were present at the time of his passing.
Lloyd had been diagnosed with the disease in March 2026, and a GoFundMe campaign noted that tumors in his liver, including one near major blood vessels, made surgical removal impossible.
Television, formed in 1973, was noted for the intricate twin-guitar interplay between Lloyd and frontman Tom Verlaine, which set the group apart from many of their punk contemporaries. Their 1977 debut album Marquee Moon is regarded as a seminal work that combined punk energy with complex, jazz-influenced guitar work.
"His loving wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end," the family statement said.
Lloyd, born in Pittsburgh in 1951 and raised in New York City, originally played drums before switching to guitar after a vivid personal experience he described in his 2017 memoir, Everything Is Combustible. He recalled, "My drums lost all their color — like in the Wizard of Oz in Kansas — and everything became grayscale. The drums didn’t sound good anymore, and I heard a voice … that told me, ‘You need to play a melody instrument.’"
After early stints with blues legend John Lee Hooker and a period in Los Angeles, Lloyd returned to New York and joined forces with Verlaine, forming Television with bassist Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca. The band became a fixture at venues such as CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, releasing Marquee Moon, Adventure (1978) and a self-titled album in 1992.
Lloyd’s guitar work on Marquee Moon featured extensive double-tracking and layered parts, a technique he championed to give the recordings depth beyond a live sound. He later pursued a solo career, releasing several albums and working as a session musician and guitar instructor.
In later years, Lloyd participated in Television reunions but eventually left, citing creative differences and frustrations over the band’s direction. He remained outspoken about his contributions to the band’s songwriting and publishing arrangements, while emphasizing his primary motivation was artistic impact rather than financial gain.