Jeremih update: Chicago R&B singer released from hospital following COVID-19 battle

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago R&B singer Jeremih was released from Northwestern Memorial Hospital Friday after a weeks-long battle with COVID-19.

Friend and fellow Chicago entertainer, Chance the Rapper, said he spoke on the phone with the singer and was anticipating his release.

Jeremih's mother was with him when he walked out of the hospital Friday evening. She said walking is a major accomplishment for him after his battle with the virus.

Jeremih sent a statement to ABC7, saying, "First and foremost I would like to thank God and the incredible team of doctors and nurses at Northwestern Hospital for saving my life. I will be forever grateful. I would also like to thank my family and friends for all their prayers and well wishes. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. A special thanks to Chance The Rapper, 50 cents [sic], and Diddy for their love and support. I'm getting stronger everyday, and look forward to spending time with my sons. I would also like to thank all my fans, and people all over the world who have prayed for me."

Chance also took time to thank the medical staff at Northwestern hospital and thanked all the fans for their prayers.

Jeremy Felton is a product of Morgan Park High School and Columbia College, but the Chicago native is better known as R&B singer Jeremih.

WATCH: Jeremih's mother gives exclusive interview

Chicago R&B singer Jeremih has been taken off a ventilator and moved out of ICU at a Chicago hospital after he was recently diagnosed with COVID-19, his mother says.

The chart-topping R&B star was at his mother's Chicago home when he suddenly felt sick and went to lie down for a minute.

"A couple of hours later he was calling me saying, 'Mom, I need to go to the hospital.' All of a sudden he couldn't walk," said his mother Gwenda Starling. "He was barely walking. He was holding his stomach."

Jeremih was diagnosed with COVID-19 and quickly went downhill. He's been in a Chicago hospital since Nov. 5.

"Things seemed like, all of a sudden, to attack his body," Starling described. "That virus viciously attacked every organ in his body. His body was shutting down and they were telling me every day for a week that he just wasn't getting better."

The 33-year-old is Starling's only son and he has two young sons of his own. He also recently lost both his father and step-father, so the experience has been nothing less than a nightmare for the family.

"It was a tremendous nightmare. The whole family was just so saddened and just shocked, first of all. After we got out of that whole shock thing, it was like 'OK, we've got to pray.'"

And that's exactly what they did, along with friends like Chance the Rapper, 50 Cent, Toni Braxton and others.

Jeremih recently came off the ventilator and was moved to a regular hospital room.