Richard Lloyd, the Television co-founder and guitarist whose intricate interplay with Tom Verlaine helped define punk-era guitar work on the band's 1977 debut Marquee Moon, has died at 75. Lloyd died Saturday morning at his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from cholangiocarcinoma, a bile duct cancer, his family said in a statement. His wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him. Lloyd was diagnosed with the cancer in March 2026.
Television stood apart from many punk contemporaries through the twin guitar attack of Lloyd and Verlaine, who died in 2023. While peers favored power chords, Lloyd and Verlaine developed an intricate interplay of riffs and licks inspired by jazz, art-rock, and jam bands. Lloyd described their partnership to The Stranger in 2015, saying he saw that Verlaine had something he was missing and vice versa. Lloyd said he brought the fleshing out of songs and a rock and roll heart, playing melody during verses while Verlaine sang.
On Marquee Moon, Lloyd pushed to double-track some of his guitar parts, insisting to Verlaine and co-producer Andy Johns that he could replicate intricate passages note-for-note to give the record depth beyond a live recording. He selectively used the technique across the album and laid down eight guitar tracks on "Guiding Light" to make it sound powerful and thick. Despite critical regard, Marquee Moon failed commercially, and Television broke up in 1978 after releasing Adventure. The band's output consisted of those two albums plus a 1992 reunion record.
Lloyd released nine solo albums between 1979 and 2018, toured regularly, worked as a session musician with artists including Matthew Sweet and John Doe, and gave guitar lessons. He rejoined Television for the 1992 reunion and again in the early 2000s but left before a 2007 tour marking Marquee Moon's 30th anniversary. Lloyd told The Stranger he got into music not for money but to become a renowned guitarist who made an irrevocable impact on rock and roll history.