Richard Lloyd, the former guitarist of the legendary New York art-punk band Television, has died. He was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma — a bile duct cancer — in March and passed away this morning at his home in Chattanooga, TN. Lloyd was 75.
"His loving wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end," his family said in a statement to Rolling Stone. His death follows the loss of Television frontman Tom Verlaine in 2023.
Richard Lloyd was born Richard John Alt in Pittsburgh, PA on October 25, 1951. He attended high school in New York City, where his friend Velvert Turner, who claimed to be a protégé of Jimi Hendrix, taught him guitar. Lloyd disposed of schoolwork and brought his guitar to classes. Television formed in 1973 with Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and Billy Ficca recruiting Lloyd as a second guitarist.
Television built a following with frequent shows at the iconic East Village club CBGB and worked with producer Brian Eno while getting approached by many labels. It was 1977 when their groundbreaking debut Marquee Moon came out on Elektra. They released Adventure the following year and then disbanded. They returned with their final LP Television in 1992.
Lloyd pursued a solo career, releasing the first of nine solo albums, Alchemy, in 1979. He also worked as guitarist and session musician for artists like Matthew Sweet and X's John Doe, and played with Rocket From The Tomb in the '00s. Lloyd went on to teach aspiring guitarists in his studio in New York City.
Lloyd's memoir Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB's And Five Decades Of Rock And Roll was released in 2018. Alongside Verlaine, he helped establish one of rock music's most distinctive and influential guitar sounds.
