Rocker Tom Verlaine, who rose to fame as a singer and guitarist for the television station, has died at the age of 73.
His sad passing after a “short illness” has been confirmed as Rolling Stone on Sunday morning (AEDT) by Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of Patti Smith.
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“He passed away peacefully in New York City, surrounded by close friends. His vision and imagination will be missed,” she wrote.
Born in 1949, Thomas Miller was inspired to learn guitar after hearing the 1966 Rolling Stones hit. 19th nervous breakdown and co-founded the punk group Television in 1973 with guitarist Richard Lloyd.
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As a young man, Verlaine was very fond of poetry and took this stage name in memory of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine.
Best known as the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist, Verlaine once attributed his iconic sound to the fact that he never played along to recordings while studying.
“I’ve never played guitar with records, so I never learned all the speed that people are attracted to when starting out,” Verlaine told one Guitar player 2005 interviewer
“I know 19-year-old guitarists who can play Danny Gatton’s note-by-note solo. They don’t really know what notes they’re playing, but they play them perfectly.”
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He dated fellow poet and musician Patti Smith after meeting in the 1970s while living in New York, where both were active in the burgeoning punk scene.
Television released two albums, Marquee Moon and Adventure, before separating in 1978, at which point Verlaine pursued a solo music career. The band reunited briefly in 1990.
Verlaine is also part of the Million Dollar Bashers, a supergroup that includes Verlaine, Sonic Youth musicians Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, guitarist Wilco Nels Cline, bassist Bob Dylan Tony Garnier, guitarist Smokey Hormel and keyboardist John Medeski.
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