Matthew West

An Illinois native, Matthew West first established himself professionally by composing successful material for fellow performers such as Billy Ray Cyrus, Rascal Flatts, and Point of Grace, well before he earned recognition as an award-winning CCM artist. Securing a major-label contract during the mid-2000s opened the door to broad acceptance within the Christian music scene, highlighted by the strong reception of albums like 2008’s Something to Say and 2015’s Live Forever, the latter crossing over to the pop charts and expanding his audience. Maintaining a steady pace of releases, he launched his own imprint in 2020 with the arrival of Brand New, then unveiled the ambitious double album My Story Your Glory in 2023.

Originally a standout on his high school baseball team, West had planned to pursue higher education through an athletic scholarship; instead he accepted a four-year music scholarship at Millikin University, where he completed multiple solo projects prior to his 1999 graduation. The spiritually themed pop tracks featured on September Sun (1997), Every Step of the Way (1998), and Sellout (2002) helped him obtain steady assignments as a songwriter for hire, while also attracting the attention of Universal South Records. That label signed him and issued his major-label debut, the Dove Award-winning Happy, in 2003.

History followed in 2005, and West marked the occasion by embarking on his first headlining tour. Overuse of his voice soon caused serious vocal issues, leading to throat surgery in 2007 to excise several polyps. After a stretch of vocal rest, he reemerged in 2008 with Something to Say; its lead track “You Are Everything” ranked as the most-played song on Christian radio that year. Fully recovered and performing without difficulty, he returned to the studio for 2010’s The Story of Your Life, another strong chart performer. The holiday collection The Heart of Christmas appeared in 2011, succeeded by the studio effort Into the Light in 2012. Three years later, Live Forever reached number one on the Billboard Christian Albums Chart and number 51 on the Billboard 200, marking another career milestone. His seventh studio album, All In, arrived in 2017 and featured the single “Broken Things,” which helped him receive the Songwriter of the Year honor at the 2018 Dove Awards. Establishing Story House Music, West released his eighth project, Brand New, in 2020; a deluxe edition of the Dove Award-nominated set, along with the holiday album We Need Christmas, both surfaced in 2021. In 2023 he issued the expansive double album My Story Your Glory, which included guest appearances by David Leonard and Jenn Johnson and yielded the hit single “Me on Your Mind.” Early the following year he scored another success with the 2024 single “Don’t Stop Praying,” which climbed to number 22 on Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs chart.