Chi Cheng (musician)
Chi Ling Dai Cheng (July 15, 1970 – April 13, 2013) was an American musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist for the alternative metal band Deftones.[2] He joined the band in 1990, and stayed with them until his career ended in 2008, when he was involved in a serious automobile crash in Santa Clara, California, while not wearing a seat belt.[3] After the crash, he remained in a semi-comatose state before dying of cardiac arrest in April 2013. After Cheng's hospitalization, a friend of the band, Sergio Vega, became the band's full-time bassist until 2021, having previously filled in for Cheng.[4]
Chi Cheng
Chi Ling Dai Cheng
July 15, 1970
Stockton, California, U.S.
April 13, 2013 (aged 42)
French Camp, California, U.S.
- Musician
- poet
- Bass
1988–2008
Early life[edit]
Cheng was born in July 1970 in Stockton, California, to Jeanne and Yin Yan Cheng. His father, a prominent Stockton cardiologist, was a Chinese immigrant while his mother is American. Cheng graduated from Tokay High School[5] and attended California State University, Sacramento, enrolling in 1989. He worked on campus, wrote poetry, and played with his band Deftones during the course of his education.[6]
Musical style[edit]
Cheng was an acclaimed bass player[7] but his approach to bass in Deftones sometimes caused slight conflict. In the August 2003 edition of Bass Guitar magazine, he told writer Joel McIver: "I get a lot of grief from Stephen anyway – he says, why don't you just play along with my guitar riff? And I'm like, why don't you fuckin' piss off? Haha. He's like, can’t you just play along? ...I remember on our song 'Change (In The House Of Flies)', him and Terry Date said, oh no, you're not gonna play that goofy dub-reggae bass-line, are you? And I was like, yes, that's exactly what I'm gonna play! And then it became a really big song for us, so I was like, okay, now let me write the fuckin' way I write."[8] Cheng has cited bassists Cliff Burton, Geezer Butler, and Steve Harris as the fundamental influences on his bass playing.[9]