In 1995, his parents were divorced and he decided to follow his mother to Arizona. He had a cousin there who started taking him to a local church youth group. He later joined the worship team. Meanwhile he started to work on his music degree at Arizona State University, studying Jazz Piano.
After a few years Matt Maher moved to St. Timothy Catholic Parish in Mesa, Arizona. There songwriter Tom Booth took him under his wing. They worked with a number of artists in that church including Kathy Troccoli and Rich Mullins. After graduating Matt Maher took a full time job at the church. He was enthralled by modern worship and began writing his own worship songs. He would play them at Sunday evening services. He also played for a number of annual youth conferences.
In 2001 Matt Maher produced an independent album called The End and The Beginning. His next indie project was Welcome to Life in 2003. It including the song Your Grace is Enough. At a youth conference that year, Matt Maher met Chris Tomlin. Tomlin’s band was asked to play backup for Maher. Chris Tomlin liked the song Your Grace is Enough and recorded it for his 2004 album Arriving.
In 2005 Matt Maher began touring and signed a publishing deal with EMI. He still produced his next album, Overflow, independently in 2006. In the spring of 2007, Matt Maher signed a record deal with Essential Records. His new album Empty and Beautiful was released on April 8, 2008. His re-recording of Your Grace is Enough was a cross between his original recording and Chris Tomlin’s version.
That year he played in front of thousands of people for the U.S. visit of Pope Banedict XVI. A few months later he realeased an album called Alive Again (2009).
Matt Maher’s latest album The Love In Between was released in 2011.