Tom Verlaine was the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Tom Verlaine died Saturday, January 28 2023, after a brief illness in Manhattan. He was 73.
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Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Verlaine collaborator Patti Smith, who also dated the artist, confirmed his death to NPR in a press release.
“I met Tom when I was a child, not long after my father died,” Jesse Paris Smith said in an NPR statement. “I felt the energy of a father in him, a man to hug, laugh with, and share mischievous jokes and wild imagination with.”
Patti Smith, Verlaine’s former partner and regular collaborator, shared a tribute on Instagram on Saturday, January 28 2023, afternoon, posting a photograph of the two of them together: “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”
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Blondie co-founder and guitarist Chris Stein recalled his first meeting with Verlaine in 1972, while also sharing a promotional poster for a Television concert that featured a guest performance by Blondie.
I met Tom Verlaine when he just arrived in NYC I guess '72. He had long hair and came to my apartment with an acoustic guitar and played some songs he'd written. Both Tom and Richard Hell have told me that I auditioned for the Neon Boys but I don't remember.
— Cʜʀɪs Sᴛᴇɪɴ (@chrissteinplays) January 28, 2023
Tom Verlaine rose to prominence as the lead singer and guitarist for the influential rock band Television. Television’s first two albums, Marquee Moon and Adventure, received widespread acclaim, if not massive sales. These albums established the groundwork for alternative rock.
Verlaine was known for his jagged guitar playing style, which included heavy vibrato and distortion, as well as his off-kilter lyrics, such as “Life in the hive puckered up my night / A kiss of death, the embrace of life” from the chorus of Marquee Moon’s titular track.
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