Richard Lloyd, Television’s Virtuoso Guitarist, Dead at 75

Richard Lloyd, Television’s co-founder and guitarist, has died aged 75 at his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His family said he died on Saturday morning from cholangiocarcinoma, a bile duct cancer diagnosed in March 2026. Lloyd helped shape punk’s sound with intricate, interlocking guitar parts, making his death a loss for a musician whose work extended beyond the genre’s usual loud, fast approach.

Lloyd and fellow guitarist Tom Verlaine, who died in 2023, anchored Television’s 1977 debut, *Marquee Moon*, with riffs influenced by jazz and art-rock. The band also released *Adventure* in 1978 and a self-titled album in 1992, after becoming a fixture at New York punk clubs including CBGB. Lloyd was born in Pittsburgh in 1951, moved to New York as a child and joined Television after returning to the city in 1973.