Bailey May Filipino Singer With 3.8M Instagram Followers

Bailey Thomas Cabello May was born on 6 August 2002 in Cebu City, in the Philippines. He is a singer, songwriter, actor, model and dancer who holds both Filipino and British citizenship. He became known to Philippine audiences as a teenager on a reality television programme and later spent several years as a member of the international pop group Now United.

Early life

May's mother, Vanessa May (born Cabello), is from Cebu, and his father, Matthew May, is British. When Bailey was four, the family moved from the Philippines to Norwich, England, where he lived until he was twelve. They returned to the Philippines regularly for holidays and family gatherings. In Norwich he attended Notre Dame High School. At twelve he moved back to the Philippines for good. Before that he had started to attract attention online with covers of songs by Sean Kingston and Daniel Padilla.

Career

In 2015 May auditioned online for the tenth edition of the reality show Pinoy Big Brother, titled Pinoy Big Brother: 737, and entered the house as a housemate. He finished as third runner-up, which carried the label of fourth place among the teen contestants. The exposure opened the door to the Philippine entertainment industry. His first acting role came in the primetime series On the Wings of Love, in which he played Harry Fausto, the younger cousin of the character Clark Medina and the love interest of Audrey Olivar.

His recording career began the same year. In July 2015 he and fellow housemate Ylona Garcia recorded their own version of the song "Magmahal Muli". The following month he recorded a version of "Now We're Together", originally sung by Khalil Ramos. Both songs reached Spotify on 9 August 2015, and his self-titled debut EP, Bailey May, followed in November of that year.

In November 2017 May was announced as the ninth member of Now United, a global pop group in which each member represents a different country. He represented the Philippines. During his time with the group it carried out three tours: the Promo World Tour in 2018, then World Tour 2019, presented by YouTube Music, and the Dreams Come True Tour in 2019. The tours visited cities in countries including Mexico, India, Brazil, South Korea, the Philippines and the United States.

He took the lead vocal on the group's 2019 single "Afraid of Letting Go", whose video was filmed in Intramuros and at Letran in Manila. That year he also sang the chorus in Tagalog, alongside Any Gabrielly, on "Sundin Ang Puso", a song released in partnership with Pepsi and likewise shot in Manila. In 2020 he appeared in the video for "Live This Moment", and he provided Korean vocals with Heyoon Jeong on "Nobody Fools Me Twice". At the start of 2021 the group released "How Far We've Come", on which he was the only male lead voice. He was absent from several videos recorded around April 2021, including "Show You How To Love", filmed in Malibu, California, because another member, Lamar Morris, had returned to the group.

On 13 January 2023 May announced that he was leaving Now United in order to pursue a solo career. The group's single "Odo", released the next day, was the last song in which he took part as a member.

Solo work

In August 2023, a few days after his birthday, the American choreographer Matt Stefanina released "Reason Why", featuring May. Its music video came out on 29 August and also featured Sofya Plotnikova, another Now United member. On 18 October 2024 May released a solo single titled "Come Closer". As of 2026 he has more than 3.8 million followers on Instagram.