Television frontman and guitarist Tom Verlaine died in Manhattan on Saturday after a ‘brief illness’. In terms of age, he was 73. Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of musician Patti Smith, broke the news of her father’s death.
“Dear Tom. The love is immense and forever,” Paris Smith wrote in an Instagram post. “My heart is too intensely full to share everything right now, and finding the words is too deep a struggle.”
Verlaine and Patti Smith dated when they were both in the emerging New York punk scene, as reported by The Guardian. Over the years they often collaborated and in 1978 they even published a collection of poems together entitled ‘The Night’. The punk rocker’s birth name was Thomas Miller, and he took his stage name from the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine.
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Originally from New Jersey, Verlaine and his high school classmate Richard Hell founded Television in New York City in 1973 after their previous band, The Neon Boys, broke up that year. In 1977, the band released their debut album, Marquee Moon, for which Verlaine was credited as producer.
Television stopped in 1978 and didn’t get back together until 1992. The band has been touring intermittently since 2001. In October 2022, the band toured the UK with 1980s rock icon Billy Idol.
Many well-known figures in the music industry have paid tribute to the late punk rock pioneer:
“This was a time when anything seemed possible” Patti Smith wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the two when they were younger. “Goodbye Tom, in the Omega.”
“Tom Verlaine is one of the greatest rock musicians ever. He influenced the way John and I play immeasurably. Fly on Tom,” tweeted Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.
RIP Tom Verlaine. Along with Patti Smith’s Horses, Marquee Moon is one of, if not THE, best New Wave albums from the 1970s punk era. the official Twitter of the band Simply Red tweeted.
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