This Day in History: 2010-12-17

January 15th 1941 – December 17th 2010

Don Van Vliet was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Van Vliet died at a hospital in Arcata, California, on Friday, December 17, 2010, about a month before his 70th birthday. The cause was named as complications from multiple sclerosis

Here is his obituary done by the guardian