Tom Verlaine is dead at 73. The famous American guitarist and songwriter rose to prominence in the 1970s as the founder of the punk rock band Television. Verlaine’s death was confirmed by Jesse Paris Smith – daughter of his peer, and former partner Patti Smith to The New York Times. Although no specific reason was cited, Jesse shared that the musician passed away after a ‘brief illness’.
More about Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine was born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey, on 13 December, 1949. As reported by The Guardian, Verlaine was inclined toward music from a pretty young age. He played the piano early on in his childhood but later switched to the saxophone after he heard a record by Stan Getz. Miller adopted the stage name Tom Verlaine as a tribute to the famous French symbolist poet Paul Verlaine. The musician started learning the guitar after listening to the 19th Nervous Breakdown by the Rolling Stones in 1966. He was one of the most skilled guitarists to have emerged from the now-defunct CBGB’s club New York’s Bowery, with contemporaries like Blondie, The Ramones, and Talking Heads.
