Richard Lloyd

Richard Meyers Lloyd was born on 25 October 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In his memoir he wrote that his parents married young and separated when he was an infant, and he and his mother eventually moved to New York City, where he grew up in Greenwich Village. He first played guitar at about seven, during a sleepover at a cousin's house, and in his early teens studied drums with William Kessler.

As a teenager he befriended the guitarist Velvert Turner, who was being mentored by Jimi Hendrix, and the two practised together under Hendrix's informal tutelage. Lloyd went to shows at the Fillmore East and attended Woodstock. He also faced mental health problems and substance abuse in his youth. He attended Stuyvesant High School but left before graduation.

After two years in Boston, where he made his first public appearance sitting in with John Lee Hooker, and a period in Los Angeles from 1971, Lloyd returned to New York in 1973. He moved into the loft of Terry Ork, who introduced him to Tom Verlaine. With Richard Hell on bass and Billy Ficca on drums they formed Television, which first performed in March 1974 and soon became a fixture at CBGB. Fred Smith replaced Hell in 1975.

Television released Marquee Moon on Elektra in 1977 and Adventure in 1978. Neither charted in the United States, but both were successful in Britain, and Marquee Moon came to be ranked among the greatest albums in rock history. Lloyd left in 1978 and the band split.

His solo debut, Alchemy, appeared in 1979, followed by Field of Fire (1986), the live Real Time (1987), The Cover Doesn't Matter (2001), The Radiant Monkey (2007), The Jamie Neverts Story (2009), Lodestones (2010), Rosedale (2016) and The Countdown (2018). He played on several Matthew Sweet albums, including Earth and Girlfriend, and on John Doe's Meet John Doe. Television reunited in the early 1990s, releasing the album Television in 1992. He also produced and played with Rocket from the Tombs and other bands and taught guitar.

Lloyd spoke openly about his struggles with addiction in the late 1970s. In 2015 he married Sheila O'Keefe, and the couple later settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His memoir mentions a son, Dylan. In 2018 he published his memoir, Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB's and Five Decades of Rock and Roll.

In March 2026 Lloyd was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a bile duct cancer. Surgery was not possible, and over the following months he was admitted to intensive care several times. Friends launched a fundraiser in August 2026 to help with his medical and living costs while he was unable to tour. He died at his home in Chattanooga on Saturday 7 November 2026, aged 75. He is survived by his wife, Sheila O'Keefe Lloyd, and his brother, Eric.

Lloyd is remembered as one half of one of rock's great guitar partnerships. His playing on Marquee Moon, with its crisp chords, fluid fills and soaring solos, helped make the album a touchstone for generations of guitarists and bands. David Bowie called Television the most original band he had seen in New York, and the group's influence can be heard in post-punk, indie and alternative rock to this day.