Co-founding Television guitarist Richard Lloyd dies at 75

Richard Lloyd, co-founder and guitarist of the pioneering New York punk band Television, died at age 75 from cholangiocarcinoma, the New York Times reported. A GoFundMe campaign had been launched in August to support his medical treatment, and his family said his wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end.

Television formed in 1973 after Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell and Billy Ficca dissolved their previous group, the Neon Boys, and recruited Lloyd as a second guitarist. The band became a fixture at venues such as Max’s Kansas City and CBGB, gaining a cult following for the intricate guitar interplay between Verlaine and Lloyd that set them apart from many contemporaries. After signing with Elektra in 1977, Television released the seminal album Marquee Moon and followed it with Adventure before internal tensions led to their breakup.

"Richard Lloyd chisels notes out hard while Verlaine works with a subtle twang and a trace of space-gazing delirium," wrote Chris Dahlen in Pitchfork’s review of the two albums.

Born Richard John Alt in 1951 in Pittsburgh, Lloyd began playing guitar at seven after seeing one at a cousin’s sleepover. He later moved to Greenwich Village, spent brief periods in Boston and Los Angeles, and returned to New York in his early twenties, where he met Verlaine and Hell. In a 2017 interview with KEXP, Lloyd said the band was "ahead of the curve" and expressed pride that Marquee Moon remains in print and appears on top-record lists.

Television released a final self-titled album in 1992, and Verlaine died in 2023 after a brief illness. Following Television’s initial split, Lloyd pursued a solo career, issuing nine albums and contributing guitar work to artists such as Matthew Sweet, Stephan Eicher and John Doe of X. In a recent Guitar World interview he noted that, as the last active member of the group, he feels a responsibility to perform Television songs alongside his own material and covers for fans.