Television's Richard Lloyd, guitarist on 'Marquee Moon,' dies at 75

Richard Lloyd, the Television guitarist whose work with Tom Verlaine won praise on the 1977 album "Marquee Moon," died Saturday morning at his Chattanooga, Tennessee, home. He was 75.

He died of cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts. "His loving wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end," the family said in a statement to Rolling Stone.

Reviewers praised earlier the way Lloyd and Verlaine played guitar together on "Marquee Moon," though the album initially sold poorly. According to Variety, the record had a large influence on later alternative rock groups including R.E.M. and Sonic Youth, and its title track runs nearly 11 minutes.

Television struggled commercially in the U.S., but found an audience in the U.K. with three hit singles and two top 10 albums.

"I didn't get into this for the money. Some people did. I got into it to become a renowned guitarist who's made an irrevocable impact on rock & roll history," Lloyd told The Stranger in 2015.

From drums to guitar

Born Richard John Alt in Pittsburgh on Oct. 25, 1951, Lloyd moved to New York City as a child and grew up in Greenwich Village. He attended Stuyvesant High School but left before graduating.

Lloyd began on drums before turning to guitar, a change he described earlier in his memoir, "Everything Is Combustible." He wrote: "The drums didn't sound good anymore, and I heard a voice — an auditory hallucination that told me, 'You need to play a melody instrument.'"

Velvert Turner, a Brooklyn musician who said he was a protégé of Jimi Hendrix, taught Lloyd guitar and was among his first playing partners. After dropping out, Lloyd moved to Boston and played with blues musician John Lee Hooker. He reached Los Angeles in 1971 before returning to New York in 1973.

There, Lloyd's friend Terry Ork, a manager, brought him to hear Verlaine play. "I saw Tom play and I thought, 'He's got it.' And I knew I had it. But I was missing something and so was he. What he was missing, I could supply. And vice versa," Lloyd said in the same 2015 interview.

Verlaine, Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca recruited Lloyd as a second guitarist after their earlier group, the Neon Boys, and formed Television in 1973.

CBGB and "Marquee Moon"

Television played regularly at CBGB and Max's Kansas City, New York clubs that hosted the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads. David Bowie had earlier called Television "the most original band I've seen in New York."

Hell departed in 1975, and Fred Smith, formerly Blondie's bassist, took his place. Television issued its first single, "Little Johnny Jewel," that year on Ork's independent label.

Elektra Records released "Marquee Moon" in February 1977. Lloyd pressed to record some of his most complex guitar parts twice, and he put down eight separate guitar tracks for "Guiding Light." Lloyd said in the 2015 interview, "All the filigrees and arabesques on Marquee Moon are all mine."

The band opened for Peter Gabriel on tour, but the slot did little to expand its audience.

Breakup and solo years

Television followed its debut with "Adventure" in April 1978, then split later that year. Pitchfork attributed the breakup to tension between Lloyd and Verlaine, while Variety said Lloyd's heroin addiction hurt the band.

Lloyd launched his solo recording career with "Alchemy" in 1979. He got sober in 1984 and later released "Field of Fire."

His nine solo albums included "The Countdown," his last, released in 2018. Lloyd also played guitar alongside fellow CBGB-era guitarist Robert Quine on Matthew Sweet's 1991 album "Girlfriend."

Television reunited for its third and final album, the self-titled "Television," in 1992. Lloyd left in 2007 to concentrate on his solo work, before a tour marking the 30th anniversary of "Marquee Moon."

His relationship with Verlaine grew difficult in later years. Lloyd said he had made substantial songwriting contributions and remained upset that Verlaine took all of Television's publishing.

Playing Television songs again

Verlaine died in 2023 after a brief illness. As Television's last functioning member, Lloyd felt a responsibility to fans, he said in a January 2026 interview with Guitar World. "For many years I wouldn't touch Television songs," he said, though he played them at his shows.

Lloyd had received his bile duct cancer diagnosis in March, Billboard reported. A GoFundMe campaign began in August to help cover treatment, medical expenses and other bills.

Tumors developed in his liver, according to the campaign, including one that doctors could not remove because it was too close to a major blood vessel. Lloyd is survived by his wife, Sheila.

In a 2017 interview with KEXP, Lloyd said "Marquee Moon" had never gone out of print. "And it's still on top records of all time lists, which makes me proud and happy," he said.