Richard Lloyd, Television Guitarist, Dies at 75

Richard Lloyd, founding member and guitarist of influential New York rock band Television, has died at 75.

Lloyd died Saturday morning (Nov. 7) at his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Rolling Stone reported.

“His loving wife Sheila and his dog Willie Mays were with him at the end,” his family told the publication.

Lloyd died of cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts. He was diagnosed in March 2026. A GoFundMe campaign was later launched to help pay his medical expenses and other bills.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1951, Lloyd moved with his family to New York City at age 6 and grew up in Greenwich Village. He first studied drums, then switched to guitar. After spending time in Boston and Los Angeles, he returned to New York in 1973.

That year, he formed Television with Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca. The band became a regular at CBGB, the Lower Manhattan club that helped launch fellow New York acts including the Ramones, the New York Dolls, Talking Heads and Blondie.

Television released its debut album, Marquee Moon, in 1977. Critics praised its intricate arrangements and the interplay between Lloyd’s and Verlaine’s guitars. The album had limited commercial success but became one of the era’s most influential releases. The band followed it with Adventure in 1978 and broke up later that year.

Lloyd began his solo career with the 1979 release of Alchemy. Substance abuse struggles derailed his career in the years that followed. After getting sober, he released his second solo album, Field of Fire, in 1985. He continued making music over the following decades, releasing his final solo studio album, The Countdown, in 2018.

He also worked as a session guitarist, contributing to recordings by artists including Matthew Sweet and John Doe of X, and continued to tour and teach guitar. In 2017, he published his memoir, Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB’s and Five Decades of Rock and Roll.

Television reunited to record its self-titled third album, released in 1992, and performed periodically in the years that followed. Lloyd announced his departure from the band in 2007 to focus on his solo career.