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Birth Name: Shirley Ann Manson

Born: 26th August 1966, Edinburgh, Scotland

Bands: Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie (1984-1992), Angelfish (1993-1994), Garbage (1994-Present)

Early Life

Shirley Ann Manson was born in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1966 to John and Muriel. Her father was a successful geneticist and her mother was a former big band singer. She was named after an aunt who was named after Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley. Manson was interested in music from a early age and learned to play the piano at age seven.

Her days at school were not happy ones. She suffered from depression as a teenager and engaged in self-injury following insults about her appearance. During a interview with the Daily Star in 2000 Manson revealed that she carried a sharp object in the laces of her boots and cut herself when she felt stress, depression, or anxiety. She was able to end this habit when her interest in rock music and performing onstage allowed her to openly express her emotions. While studying at Broughton High School, Manson became an active member of its drama group, acting in plays such as The American Dream and The Wizard of Oz. However she was to drop out of school after missing most of the final year playing truant due to the bullying she suffered from her peers.

Manson's first job was doing volunteer work at a local hospital as a breakfast waitress before spending five years as a shop assistant for Miss Selfridge. There she began serving on the make-up counter but was eventually moved into the stockrooms by her bosses for her attitude towards the shops customers. Manson also briefly modelled clothing for British girls magazine Jackie.

Musical Career

Her first experience of performing music was as a backing vocalists for Edinburgh based bands Autumn 1904 and Wild Indians. While performing at a local theatre group, Manson was approached by Martin Metcalfe, of Alternative rock act Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. Manson initially became romantically involved with Metcalfe, but remained in the group after their split and became a prominent member, playing keyboards, singing backing vocals.

Following the split of Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie in 1992, Shirley and Metcalfe formed Angelfish. Originally, Manson only played keyboards and did some backing vocals, but was eventually given the role of lead vocals. Angelfish went on to release one self-titled album in February 1994. Their single 'Suffocate Me' saw some moderate success when the video was aired on MTV's 120 Minutes show.

This was to be Shirley’s big break into the mainstream music scene. Producer and musician Steve Marker had seen the airing on the 120 minuets show and asked her to audition for his band, Garbage, which also featured Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins producer Butch Vig. After the split of Angelfish in 1994 Manson flew to Madison, Wisconsin, where she successfully auditioned at Vig’s own studio, Smart Studios to become the lead singer of Garbage.

The band's debut album Garbage was released in August 1995. Garbage eventually spent over a year on both the US and UK charts and went on to sell over 4 million worldwide. The albums success was helped by the band promoting it on a year-long tour, including playing on the European festival circuit and supporting the Smashing Pumpkins throughout 1996. The album produced 5 singles "Vow", "Only Happy When It Rains", "Queer", "Stupid Girl" and "Milk".

Garbage relocated to Friday Harbor, Washington and Manson was to become the band's chief songwriter for their much anticipated follow up record Version 2.0. The album went on to equal the success of the band's debut record after its May 1998 release, selling a further 4 million units worldwide. During the two year tour in support of the record, Manson modelled for Calvin Klein and the group recorded the theme song to James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough, becoming the third Scotswoman to sing a Bond theme after Lulu and Sheena Easton.

For the recording of Garbage's third record throughout 2000, Manson became one of the first high-profile artists to write a blog online, while she decided to improve her guitar playing for the band's next tour. Their third album, beautifulgarbage, featured Manson's most forward and personal lyrics to date and sold over 2.5 million copies. Although the album did not sell as well as its predecessors a loyal army of fans saw Garbage perform a successful world tour in support of it. The album topped the charts in Australia and was named one of Rolling Stone's "Top 10 Albums of the Year".

In October 2003 during recoding of their fourth studio album "Bleed Like Me" the band decided to split due to musical differences. However the split was only to last a few months and after playing sessions with ex-Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on "Bad Boyfriend", the band reformed with renewed focus and completed the record by the end of 2004. It was released in April 2005 worldwide, following critical appraisal and unexpectedly high chart positions for its lead-off single "Why Do You Love Me". Bleed Like Me debuted on the US Billboard 200 at a career-high #4 and went on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide. Following a world tour to promote the album the band announced that they were going "on a indefinite hiatus" in September.

The band reformed briefly to play a tribute show in 2007 and record new tracks for their greatest hits album Absolute Garbage. Manson told Carson Daly on his late-night talk show that she is uncertain as to whether or not Garbage will gather to create a fifth studio record.