Richard Lloyd, Television Co-Founder, Dies at 75

Richard Lloyd, the Television co-founder whose guitar partnership with Tom Verlaine helped make Marquee Moon a landmark for adventurous rock players, died on November 7, 2026. He was 75. Television confirmed his death in a statement that day, reproduced in Press Association’s report.

Two guitars, room for both voices

Lloyd helped form Television in New York in 1973 with Verlaine, bassist Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca. By the time the band recorded its 1977 debut, Marquee Moon, Fred Smith had taken the bass role. Television became part of the early CBGB scene, but the guitar conversation at its center reached beyond a single movement.

For guitarists, the lasting lesson is the space the two players made for distinct parts: lines that could answer one another, melodies that could carry a song, and extended passages that kept the instruments in dialogue. Lloyd’s contribution is inseparable from that identity.

He played on all three Television studio albums: Marquee Moon, Adventure in 1978, and the self-titled reunion album in 1992.

A voice beyond Television

Lloyd began his solo recording career with Alchemy in 1979 and followed it with work including Field of Fire. His guitar also became part of Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend and Altered Beast, taking that individual voice into a different songwriting setting.

His own account of learning the instrument is a fitting way to remember him. In a Guitar Player interview originally printed in January 2019, Lloyd recalled exploring feedback and the tremolo bar before he could move comfortably around the fingerboard. Years later, he still described himself as practicing and learning.

“You can never get to the bottom of what the guitar can do,” he said.

That curiosity offers a thread through the records: a player interested in what could happen next, even within a familiar instrument.

Want to dig deeper into Richard Lloyd’s guitars and gear? Read our full guide.