Deftoneobit: Chi Cheng

Chi Cheng, founder member of, and bassist for, The Deftones has died. His mother issued a statement:

This is the hardest thing to write to you. Your love and heart and devotion to Chi was unconditional and amazing.
I know that you will always remember him as a giant of a man on stage with a heart for every one of you.
He was taken to the emegency room and at 3 am today his heart just suddenly stopped. He left this world with me singing songs he liked in his ear.
He fought the good fight.You stood by him sending love daily. He knew that he was very loved and never alone.
I will write more later. I will be going through the oneloveforchi site and any other information may not be reliable.
If you have any stories or messages to share please send them to the onelove site. Please hold Mae and Ming and the siblings and especially Chi’s son, Gabriel in your prayers. It is so hard to let go.
With great love and “Much Respect!” Mom J (and Chi)
Thank you to Phil and Hostgator.com for being kind enough to upgrade my server at no charge to handle the increased traffic to www.oneloveforchi.com so it won’t crash again. We appreciate it so much.
Thank you One Love Fam for your love and support. -Gina Blackmore

Cheng had been semi-comatose for four years following a vicious car accident and subsequent medical complications. Discharged from hospital more than once, his health would take a lurch for the worse and he'd find himself back in.

Chi Cheng was 42; he died yesterday.