MELBOURNE - Rock legend Max Merritt has been released from hospital in Los Angeles after treatment for a rare auto-immune disorder.

New Zealand-born Merritt, who hit the charts in the 1960s and 1970s with his band The Meteors, was hospitalised last week after suffering kidney failure.

The 66-year-old was diagnosed with Goodpastures Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder that attacks the kidneys and lungs, his Melbourne-based manager Wal Bishop said.

"Max has been on dialysis and he will continue to receive treatment as an outpatient, but it looks like the worst of what has been a very worrying time might be over, at least we all hope so," Mr Bishop said.

"For a while there it just seemed like no-one knew what was wrong with him."

Merritt had recently returned to America, where he has lived for 20 years, after a tour of New Zealand during which he was honoured as an inaugural inductee to the NZ Rock and Rock Hall of Fame.

Mr Bishop said Merritt was struck down with the illness while on the tour and was admitted to hospital after returning home to LA.

"Max was doubly pleased to have been released from the hospital," Mr Bishop said.

"Number one, nobody enjoys being in a hospital and number two, he was discharged in time to be home for his 66th birthday."

His birthday is April 30.

Merritt is best known for hits including Slippin' Away and Western Union Man, which he recorded with The Meteors.

In 2002, he joined other Australian rock stalwarts, including Col Joye, former Easybeats singer Stevie Wright, former Daddy Cool frontman Ross Wilson and the late Billy Thorpe, on the Long Way to the Top tour.

A US National Library of Medicine website describes Goodpastures Syndrome as a disease which affects the kidneys and lungs, usually involving rapidly progressive kidney failure.

- AAP