Maia was born in the  neighbourhood, in the southern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. He began writing melodies while still a child, the second youngest of nineteen children. Then known as "Tião Maia", he wrote his earliest songs at age eight. At fourteen, as a drummer, he formed the group Os Tijucanos do Ritmo, which lasted one year. He then took guitar classes and was soon teaching other children in Tijuca. He also gave lessons to his friends Erasmo Esteves and , fellow members of the so-called Matoso Gang. Named after the street where they used to hang out, the gang also included  and , among others. They liked to listen to the earliest styles of , with both Maia and Ben being nicknamed "Babulina" after their enthusiastic pronunciation of 's song "Bop-A-Lena".

In 1957, Maia, Carlos, Arlênio Silva, Edson Trindade and Wellington started the vocal group . After a televised appearance on's Clube do Rock on , Imperial arranged a solo appearance for Roberto Carlos the following week. Maia got annoyed at this, leading him to insult Carlos in the following rehearsals until his bandmate left the group. After watching Carlos' concert the following week, Maia left The Sputniks, and went after Imperial for a solo appearance. Imperial eventually suggested another artistic name, Tim, which Maia accepted with reservations.

In 1959, Maia went to study in the United States, where he lived for four years. He joined a vocal harmony ensemble, The Ideals, and wrote the lyrics to "New Love", which was recorded as a demo with guest percussion by a young . (Maia also recorded the song as a soloist in 1973). The group's career was derailed in 1963 when Maia was arrested for possession of  and deported back to Brazil.

After returning, Maia had a few unsuccessful jobs and arrests in Rio. Eventually he decided to move to São Paulo to try and get help to kickstart his musical career from Carlos, who was beginning to enjoy the massive success of  with Esteves. Carlos was inaccessible, but Maia started to perform in São Paulo's nightlife and in 's radio program, and also had a televised appearance at  with . By the end of 1967 Maia managed to send a homemade recording to Carlos, who got Maia a deal for a single at  and an appearance on the Jovem Guarda TV program. His first single in 1968, "Meu País" backed by "Sentimento", went unnoticed, as was another single, "These Are the Songs"/"What Do You Want to Bet?", recorded in English for RGE Discos. Maia also wrote one of Carlos' hits, "Não Vou Ficar". He became more visible after 1969 when he launched his "These Are the Songs," which was re-recorded by  in the next year in a duo with Maia. Maia managed a deal with / and recorded the successful single "Primavera".

In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American  and Brazilian music with elements of  and . The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.

In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled. Next year's Tim Maia had other hits including "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" and "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só". His fourth album, released in 1973, included "Réu Confesso" and "Gostava Tanto de Você". Angry at how the  distributed the royalties, Maia opened his own, Seroma (named after the first syllable of his name and surnames), to make sure he had a bigger cut of the profits.

After his fourth album, Maia left Polydor for , who offered him a chance to record a double album. The instrumental parts were all ready when Maia went to his composing friend Tibério Gaspar for help with the lyrics. In his house Maia found the book Universo em Desencanto (Universe in Disenchantment), revolving around the cult of Rational Culture. Maia converted to the cult, abandoned the drugs and red meat, and decided to write the lyrics for the songs about the knowledge contained in the book. RCA rejected the albums Tim Maia Racional, Vols. 1 & 2 for the newly found spiritual content, but Maia bought the  from them and released the albums independently through label Seroma Discos, which would split its profits with the cult. While lead single "Que Beleza (Imunização Racional)" had some airplay, at the time these records were not well received, due to inadequate distribution, and the spiritual content alienating both the radios and Maia's fans. Eventually the artist could only perform at events promoted by the Rational Culture. Eventually in 1975 Maia got fed up with the cult, destroyed the unsold records and went back to his carefree life. The Racional albums are now regarded as classics and saw re-release in 2005.

For his return in 1976, Maia signed with  and recorded an album also titled Tim Maia, which included the hit "Rodésia" (inspired by the ), and also did a self-published album in English. In 1977 Maia signed with , where he recorded the album Verão Carioca. In 1978 Maia signed with  and incorporated the sound of the period in the album Tim Maia Disco Club, which spawned the hits "Sossego" and "Acenda o Farol". In 1979 Maia recorded Reencontro for , but revolted at the label's estimated promotion costs which were the same as the money spent recording, Maia fought with the marketing executive, and in response EMI president fired Maia, releasing the album with no publicity to low sales.

In 1980, Maia recorded another self-titled album for Polygram. The following year, with turbulent passages through all the major labels in Brazil, Maia released again through Seroma the albumNuvens, which flopped due to inefficient distribution. To earn cash for his future albums, Maia was a guest in songs by ,  and ,  and . His collaboration with Sá, "Vale Tudo", later became a solo hit for Maia. In 1983 he had hits with "O Descobridor dos Sete Mares" and "Me Dê Motivo", included on O Descobridor dos Sete Mares(Polygram). Another milestone of his career in the 1980s was Tim Maia (1986), which had the hit "Do Leme ao Pontal (Tomo Guaraná, Suco de Caju, Goiabada Para Sobremesa)".

In 1990, Maia saw 's  and asked editor Almir Chediak to do one for his own work. Chediak was working on such an album with  classics, and Maia requested a copy, which eventually inspired him to do a self-released album of bossa nova covers, Tim Maia Interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova. After a period of poor presence in the media, he was again on top after being mentioned by Jorge Ben Jor's "W/Brasil" in 1991. In the same period, Maia had another hit with his re-recording of ' "Como uma Onda" for a television advertisement - Santos in return recorded Maia's "Descobridor dos Sete Mares.

At the same time, he withdrew from majors, recording his next albums through Vitória Régia, including What a Wonderful World (1997), where he recorded American pop/soul classics, and Amigos do Rei/Tim Maia e Os Cariocas, with the famous vocal group. Obese and in bad health, in March 1998 he was performing at the Municipal Theater of  when he became ill. He was hospitalized and died few a days later.

Maia lived in the United States of America from 1959 to 1963. He first resided , with the family of an acquaintance of Maia's father's costumer. There he learned English and did not speak much Portuguese because so few Brazilians were living in the USA at the time. In 1961 Maia moved to , and in 1963 with a group of three friends decided to travel to . With a stolen car and performing small thefts to finance the journey, which rended him five prisons[], Maia and friends travelled through nine states before arriving in . In , Maia had his final imprisonment for marijuana possession, which earned him deportation back to Brazil.

Tim Maia became a member of the  (Partido Socialista Brasileiro - PSB) in October 1997. He was rumoured to have joined the party in order to run for a seat in the  for  in the , but died before that. When asked by a reporter why he chose to join the then small PSB, he replied: "Brazil is the only country where – in addition to whores cumming, pimps being jealous and drug dealers being addicted – poor people vote for the ". His phrase would become a famous  on the way Brazilians face politics.

He was also known his easygoing lifestyle, and for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs. Indeed, Maia had a tradition of arriving late at concerts, at times missing them altogether. He also frequently complained about the sound quality in them. Many of his missed concerts were due to what he called his "triathlon", consuming ,  and before a gig. In the end of his life, Tim Maia suffered from many health problems which includes diabetes, acute hypertension, obesity and pulmonary embolism. In 1996, he had a solved through an emergency operation.