Richard Lloyd, the co-founding guitarist of Television, has died. The New York Times reports. The cause was cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts. He was 75 years old. In August, a GoFundMe was launched to raise money for Lloyd’s treatment. “His loving wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end,” his family said in a statement to rolling stone.
Television formed in 1973 after Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell and Billy Ficca ended their first band, the Neon Boys, and recruited Lloyd as a second guitarist. Part of a pioneering wave of New York punk acts, Television built a cult following with local mainstays Max’s Kansas City and CBGB. The band’s sound, grounded in the intricate, driving guitar interplay between Verlaine and Lloyd, was a stark departure from the three-chord melodies of their contemporaries. After signing with Elektra in 1977, Television released the landmark film Marquee Moon and, a year later, a second effort Adventure, before tensions between Verlaine and Lloyd led to the group’s dissolution.
“Richard Lloyd chisels hard while Verlaine works with a subtle accent and a trace of space-observing delirium,” wrote Chris Dahlen in Pitchfork’s review of Marquee Moon And Adventure. “They play majestic and chiming lines, rudimentary and torrential, the riff, the solo, the rare power chord and, above all, the power chord. note.”
Richard Lloyd was born Richard John Alt in 1951 in Pittsburgh. After his parents separated, his mother remarried and moved the family to Greenwich Village. Lloyd started playing guitar at the age of seven after spotting one at a cousin’s sleepover. “I recognized that the guitar was their magic wand,” Lloyd said. Guitar world in January, about his first encounters with Beatles records. “They captivated young people. It’s an impulse that has never left me.”
After brief stays in Boston and Los Angeles, Lloyd returned to New York in his early twenties, where he first encountered Verlaine and Hell. “We were ahead of the curve,” Lloyd told KEXP in 2017, about his time on television. “Marquee Moon always sells out – it has never been out of print. And it still ranks among the greatest records of all time, which makes me proud and happy. Television returned for one last LP, Televisionin 1992. Verlaine died in 2023 following a brief illness.
After the initial dissolution of Television, Lloyd continued a prolific solo career, releasing nine albums and contributing guitar to records by Matthew Sweet, Stephan Eicher and John Doe of X.
“For many years I didn’t touch songs on television,” Lloyd added on this year’s show. Guitar world interview. “But as the last active member of the band, I have a responsibility to the fans. I play a number of songs for TV, my own songs and a few covers, to make sure everyone has a good time.”
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