Richard Lloyd, the former guitarist of the pioneering art-punk band Television, has died. He revealed in August he had been diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a serious form of bile duct cancer, and passed away this morning at his home in Chattanooga, TN. “His loving wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end,” his family told Rolling Stone. Lloyd was 75 years old.
Born Richard John Alt in Pittsburgh, PA on October 25, 1951, Lloyd grew up in Pittsburgh before moving to New York. In high school, he learned guitar alongside his friend Velvert Turner, who claimed to be a guitar student of Jimi Hendrix. He joined Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and Billy Ficca to solidify Televison’s lineup in 1973, serving as a second guitarist. Lloyd’s intricate interplay with Verlaine (who passed away in 2023) not only helped the band stand out as they built a following at the iconic East Village club CBGB, but went on to become hugely influential. In 1977, Television released their iconic debut, Marquee Moon, on Elektra, following it up with Adventure the year after.
After the band broke up, Lloyd embarked on a prolific solo career, issuing nine albums and working as guitarist and session musician for artists including Matthew Sweet and X’s John Doe. His last album, The Countdown, came out in 2018. That same year, he published a memoir titled Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB’s and Five Decades of Rock and Roll.
