The Quietus is saddened to hear that Deftones bassist Chi Cheng has died at the age of 42.
The easy going, well-loved musician was in a car crash late 2008 which left him seriously injured and in a coma. Despite making quite remarkable progress, he was plagued by ill-health and never fully recovered.
A brief statement was issued by Deftones singer Chino Moreno on his Facebook page and a message from Chi’s family was published by the OneLoveForChi.com website earlier today [SUN].
Their statement read:
“Our dearest Family,
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 emergency 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 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)”
The Quietus had the pleasure and privilege of meeting this friendly, intelligent and immensely likeable dude on several occasions and would like to pass on our sincere condolences to his family, friends and fellow band members/crew.