Television Frontman And Guitarist Tom Verlaine Gone At 73

Verlaine (Photo: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com)

The NEW YORK POST is reporting TOM VERLAINE, the frontman and guitarist for the rock band TELEVISION, died SATURDAY in MANHATTAN following a brief illness. He passed away at 73. 

JESSE PARIS SMITH, daughter of fellow musician PATTI SMITH, made the announcement on INSTAGRAM according to THE POST. “Dearest TOM. The love is immense and forever. My heart is too intensely full to share everything now, and finding the words is too deep of a struggle.” SMITH and VERLAINE were reportedly lovers in the early days of their careers, and definate collaboraters in music and a book of poetry they wrote together called "THE NIGHT," released in 1978. 

VERLAINE, a NEW JERSEY native, formed TELEVISION in NEW YORK CITY in 1973 with his high school classmate RICHARD HELL after their original group, THE NEON BOYS, split upthat same year. The band released its debut album MARQUEE MOON in 1977, where VERLAINE also earned producer credit. THE POST reports TELEVISION broke up in 1978 and remained on hiatus until they reunited in 1992. The group has toured on and off since 2001. Click here to read more.

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