Chi Ling Dai Cheng was an American musician and poet, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist for the alternative metal band Deftones. 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. Afterwards, he remained in a semi-comatose state before dying of cardiac arrest in April 2013. Following Cheng's hospitalization, a friend of the band, Sergio Vega, became the band's full-time bassist, having previously filled in for Cheng.