79 Facts About Shirley Manson

Shirley Ann Manson was born on 26 August 1966 and is a Scottish musician and actress.

Shirley Manson is the lead singer of the American alternative rock band Garbage.

Shirley Manson developed a formidable stage presence, and was later approached by the band's record label with the idea of launching her as a solo artist.

Shirley Manson recorded an album with her band under the name Angelfish.

In 2006, Shirley Manson began to write and record solo material after Garbage went on hiatus.

Shirley Manson returned to the recording studio in 2010 to write and produce material for Garbage's fifth studio album, Not Your Kind of People, released in 2012.

Shirley Ann Manson was born in Edinburgh on 26 August 1966, the daughter of Muriel Flora and John Mitchell Manson.

Shirley Manson's father, a descendant from the fishing community of Northmavine, was a university lecturer, while her mother was a big band singer who had been adopted by a Lothian-based family at an early age and took on the family name MacDonald.

Shirley Manson has two sisters: Lindy-Jayne who is two years older and Sarah who is two years younger.

Shirley Manson attended Broughton High School and her childhood education was informed by the Church of Scotland until age 12.

Shirley Manson was a member of Girlguiding UK throughout this period of her youth as a Brownie and a Girl Guide.

Shirley Manson attended the City of Edinburgh Music School, the music department of Broughton High School.

The bullying stopped when Shirley Manson associated herself with a rebel crowd, which resulted in her rebelling herself.

Shirley Manson was absent for most of her final year at school and began smoking cannabis, sniffing glue, drinking alcohol, shoplifting, and on one occasion breaking into Edinburgh Zoo.

Shirley Manson had teenage ambitions to become an actress, but was rejected by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Shirley Manson started on the shop's makeup counters, but was eventually moved into stockrooms because of her attitude toward customers.

Shirley Manson became well known throughout Edinburgh's clubbing scene; making use of free samples from Miss Selfridge, she styled hair for a number of local bands.

Shirley Manson was in a relationship with Metcalfe initially, but remained working with the band after splitting from him and became a prominent member, performing keyboards, backing vocals and becoming involved in the band's business side.

Shirley Manson's first release with the Mackenzies was a YTS release of "Death of a Salesman" in 1984.

The Mackenzies continued to write material; Shirley Manson was given the opportunity to record lead vocals on a number of tracks planned for the band's third album.

Shirley Manson's contract obliged her to deliver at least one album and, at the sole option of Radioactive, up to six additional albums.

Producer and musician Steve Marker caught the broadcast and thought Shirley Manson would be a great singer for his band, Garbage, which featured producers Duke Erikson and Butch Vig.

Shirley Manson admitted she felt intimidated showcasing herself to Vig, who produced bands she admired such as Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and The Smashing Pumpkins, and Vig added that the audition's disorganized nature along with the Americans not understanding Shirley Manson's Scottish accent caused communication problems.

Shirley Manson began to work on the then-skeletal origins of some songs and the band invited her to become a full-time member and finish the album; she co-wrote and co-produced the entire album with the rest of the band.

Shirley Manson became the band's chief songwriter for the follow-up record Version 2.0 which equalled the success of the band's debut record after its May 1998 release.

Shirley Manson lived in hotels throughout the recording periods of the debut and Version 2.0.

The group recorded the theme song to the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough, and Shirley Manson became the third Scotswoman to sing a Bond theme after Lulu and Sheena Easton.

Shirley Manson afterwards discovered a vocal fold cyst, and had to undergo corrective surgery.

Shirley Manson's lyrics became more overtly political for Garbage's fourth record, 2005's Bleed Like Me, which after the surprise success of lead-in single "Why Do You Love Me", posted some of the band's highest chart positions upon release.

At several performances, Shirley Manson wore a variation on "Garden Witch Overalls", popularised by feminist poet Kate Baer through her interview on the podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It, hosted by Caroline Moss.

Shirley Manson paired the overalls with knee-high boots and assorted t-shirts.

Shirley Manson confirmed in March 2006 that she had begun work on a solo album, working with musician Paul Buchanan, producer Greg Kurstin, and film composer David Arnold, stating that she had "no timetable" for completing the project.

Shirley Manson presented some of her work to Geffen Records in 2008, who found it "too noir", prompting Shirley Manson and Geffen to terminate her contract by mutual agreement.

Shirley Manson continued to write material while without a record deal and had been in talks with David Byrne and Ray Davies about a potential collaboration.

In 2009, Shirley Manson announced she was stepping away from music, saying she got sick of the music industry's new practices and had found more excitement in acting.

Shirley Manson worked with a number of artists outside of her solo project, reciting a verse of a long poem for a Chris Connelly album, co-writing and recording a duet with Eric Avery for his solo debut recording with Debbie Harry.

Shirley Manson performed in an uncredited role as a dominatrix in the music video for She Wants Revenge's single "These Things".

Shirley Manson's earliest musical memories were of her mother, who sang with a big band when Shirley Manson was a child.

Shirley Manson was exposed to classic jazz records as she grew up and work by Nina Simone, Cher, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald.

At nineteen, Shirley Manson discovered Patti Smith, specifically her Horses album, which made a "strong impact" on her.

The majority of Shirley Manson's influences were female musicians; however she notes David Bowie as an inspiring male musician.

Shirley Manson is considered a style icon, influencing various other female artists, and inspiring fashion designers and stylists.

The first time Shirley Manson contributed her vocals to a project separately from any of her bands was in 1998, when she performed vocals for the chorus of a Garbage-produced remix of Fun Lovin' Criminals 1999 single "Korean Bodega".

Shirley Manson teamed up with Marilyn Shirley Manson and Tim Skold in 2004 to record a cover version of the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" but both felt the track inappropriate for either acts upcoming albums, and remains unreleased.

In 2006, Shirley Manson planned to record a John Lennon cover version for the Amnesty International Instant Karma charity compilation with bassist Eric Avery, however a scheduling misunderstanding left them short of time and unable to record the song.

Three years later Shirley Manson recorded vocals to a track composed by Serj Tankian and Steven Sater.

Shirley Manson has given two tracks to Sky Ferreira; the 2012 single "Red Lips" and "I'm on Top" in 2013.

Shirley Manson refused clearance for the sample and the track was scrapped.

Shirley Manson was cast in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in May 2008, after being asked to appear by series creator Josh Friedman and enduring a multiple audition process, beating out other actresses including Julie Ann Emery.

Shirley Manson debuted in the season two premiere episode "Samson and Delilah" as Catherine Weaver, CEO of a technology company, ZeiraCorp.

Shirley Manson performed and co-arranged a rock and blues version of the gospel song "Samson and Delilah" for the episode's score.

Shirley Manson cites actress Glenn Close and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as her acting influences for the ambiguous character.

Shirley Manson played the human Weaver in archive footage viewed by the T-1001 in the episode "The Tower Is Tall, But the Fall Is Short".

In 2009, Shirley Manson made her first venture into the video game industry as an avatar of herself for the Guitar Hero franchise.

The next year, Shirley Manson was one of the final guests to appear on the cult US children's show Pancake Mountain.

Shirley Manson filmed five such segments but none aired before creator Scott Stuckey and producer JJ Abrams canceled the show.

One segment, featuring Germany, was eventually released and featured an original theme song sung by Shirley Manson and written by Stuckey.

From 2019 to 2021, Manson hosted the music podcast The Jump with Shirley Manson, co-produced by Mailchimp Presents and Little Everywhere, with executive producers Dann Gallucci, Jane Marie and Hrishikesh Hirway.

Shirley Manson has used Garbage's profile and her own to raise awareness and secure funds for a number of causes.

Shirley Manson commissioned a Garbage branded lipgloss online, with all proceeds from the sales split between Grampian Children's Cancer Research and cancer treatment institutions at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital in Scotland and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York.

Shirley Manson has adopted a rescue dog, a terrier-mix named Veela, named after the veelas from the Harry Potter books.

In 2008, Shirley Manson became involved with The Pablove Foundation, a charity founded by Dangerbird Records head Jeff Castelaz, whose son Pablo succumbed to cancer the following year.

In 2010, Shirley Manson donated two hand-decorated T-shirts to Binki Shapiro's online charity auction "Crafts for a Cause" to raise money for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In January 2015, Shirley Manson headlined Pablove 6, the sixth-annual fundraiser for the Pablove Foundation.

Shirley Manson made a special appearance with Chicago-based David Bowie tribute band Sons of the Silent Age, featuring Matt Walker and Chris Connelly.

Shirley Manson was married to Scottish artist Eddie Farrell from 1996 to 2003.

In 2008, Shirley Manson became engaged to record producer and Garbage sound engineer Billy Bush.

Shirley Manson has distanced herself from organized religion but has long been interested in spirituality.

Shirley Manson became disenchanted with organised religion and although she maintained an interest in spirituality, she complained that she has "brushed up against too many examples of hypocritical spiritualists".

Shirley Manson identifies as a feminist and has been hailed as a feminist icon.

Shirley Manson quit smoking in the early 90s, when she was around the age of 25.

In 1998, Shirley Manson had a benign tumor removed from her breast.

Shirley Manson underwent surgery in 2003 after seeing another doctor in New York and recuperated her voice after three weeks of rehabilitation, including a week of total silence.

Shirley Manson has declared of suffering of various mental disorders on multiple occasions, including body dysmorphic disorder and depression, exacerbated by the media scrutiny and misogyny she encountered during Garbage's breakthrough years.

Shirley Manson has spoken of her aversion to resorting to cosmetic surgery, stating that it wouldn't solve her body dysmorphia: "I know that even if I did get something fixed it is not going to last very long and I am still going to be back to square one, and I'm going to have to face myself in the morning", she told The Herald in 2008.

Shirley Manson said the self-harming lasted up until she was fifteen, although she has felt the impulse to cut again during the Version 2.0 tour due to the media pressure, an urge she resisted.

Shirley Manson admitted not knowing to this day the reason behind her self-harming, "but I'm sure there was a lot of unexpressed anger, a lot of hormones, and a lot of emotions that I was unable to process as a young person", she explained.

At the first date of the Garbage tour promoting Strange Little Birds, whilst singing "Special", Shirley Manson fell off the stage into the pit at KROQ Weenie Roast on 14 May 2016.

Shirley Manson immediately stood back up, apparently unhurt, and continued performing for the rest of the set.