Shirley Ann Manson is a Scottish musician and actress. She is best known as the lead singer of the American alternative rock band Garbage. Manson gained media attention for her forthright style, rebellious attitude, and distinctive voice. For the majority of her career, Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh and the U.S. to record with Garbage, which originally formed in Madison, Wisconsin; she now lives and works primarily in Los Angeles, while maintaining a second home in Edinburgh.
Early Life:
Shirley was born in Edinburgh on 8/26/66, the daughter of Muriel Flora (née MacKay) and John Mitchell Manson. Her 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. Manson was named after an aunt, who was herself named after Charlotte Brontë’s novel Shirley. She has two sisters: Lindy-Jayne, who is two years older than her and Sarah, who is two years younger than her. They were brought up in the Comely Bank and Stockbridge areas of Edinburgh. She attended Broughton High School and her childhood education was informed by the Church of Scotland (her father was her Sunday School teacher) until age 12.
While she enjoyed primary school, Manson was bullied while in her first year at secondary school, causing her to suffer from depression and body dysmorphic disorder and engage in self-injury: she carried sharp objects in the laces of her boots and would cut herself when she felt low self-esteem, stress, or anxiety. The bullying stopped when Manson associated herself with a rebel crowd, which resulted in her rebelling herself.
Musical Beginnings:
Manson’s first public performance was in 1970, at age four, with her older sister in an amateur show held at the local Church Hill Theatre. Enrolled at Flora Stevenson Primary School, she received instruction in recorder, clarinet, and fiddle, and learned ballet and piano from extramural classes at age seven. Manson was a member of Girlguiding UK throughout this period of her youth as a Brownie and a Girl Guide. She attended the City of Edinburgh Music School, the music department of Broughton High School. While at Broughton, she became an active member of its drama group, performing in amateur dramatic and musical performances such as The American Dream and The Wizard of Oz, while also singing with the Waverley Singers, a local girl choir. A 1981 Edinburgh Festival Fringe production of Maurice the Minotaur, in which Manson played a prophet, was awarded a Fringe First award by The Scotsman newspaper.
Manson’s musical career began in her teens when she was approached to perform backing vocals and keyboards for the band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie. She 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. She recorded an album with her band under the name Angelfish. After seeing Manson in an Angelfish music video broadcast only once on MTV’s 120 Minutes, Garbage invited her to audition, and she eventually joined the band.
Discography:
|
Studio albums |
10 |
|---|---|
|
Video albums |
2 |
|
Music videos |
45 |
|
EPs |
1 |
|
Singles |
47 |
Filmography:
6 credits
Podcasts:
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. In each episode, Manson interviewed a guest musician about a defining song that represented a breakthrough in the artist’s own career and “the moments in an artist’s career where they decide to take a leap into something new.”
One thing to share: The National has an excellent article where Shirley “10 things that changed her life”
Official website: (Garbage official website) here
From their new album:
Source:
wikipedia
Tao Talk 
I like “Only Happy When It Rains”….always have. Why she had doubts about her looks…I dont’ know…but I guess we all have something…its great she could conquer it and go on to success…love her voice.
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I love that song too. Steve for the Deaf made me aware of this group while I was reading his novel that had accompanying spotify playlists for each chapter 🙂
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Again….me looking for power pop songs…although obviously this is not…but I come across a lot of songs. I like her and her voice.
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Just one of those random odd things – about a week ago I started to see her posts on my Facebook feed. I do like Garbage, but don’t really need to follow her on FB… But after a couple of days they disappeared again.
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So funny, Trent. Shirley wants to get close to you. I got a friend invite from “Martin Henderson,” one of the co-stars of the netflix series “Virgin River” a few days ago. I did an independent search and see that is not really his page.
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It wasn’t her personal page, it was the celebrity page. But it was the page run by her and not a fan page. I do see celebrity pages a bit and actually follow a few (mostly jazz musicians), so I think FB’s algorithm tosses different ones my way to see how I react.
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She was one of my role-models when I was a teenager!
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So neat to know, Mel!
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I don’t understand where some of these people get their bad self-image from. She seems to have gotten past it, thank goodness. “Formidable” is indeed how I’ve always thought of her. (K)
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Oh I understand. I’m glad also and a perfect adjective for her looks and music.
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I wasn’t aware of Shirley Manson but knew of Garbage because of the 007 soundtrack song “The World Is Not Enough”.
It’s sad what kind of damage bullying can cause to kids. I was on the receiving end myself in fifth grade. Luckily, my parents acted and put me in a different school, so I could be with my friends. To do that I ended up repeating fifth grade, which was well worth it!
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Good you knew of her, Christian, that’s a big song to be known for. I saw so much of it as a P.O., where often the target “snaps” and fights back, then gets charged. I used to refer the cases to restorative justice, where all parties had to sit in a circle and share the incident from their perspectives. It was mandatory for the charged person (actually the victim but considered the assaulter to the court) to attend but optional for the “victim” aka bully. Often the victim refused to attend, but it resulted in the real victim being let off the hook for fighting back, while at the same time getting a very clear message that there are better ways to handle being bullied than with violence.
I’m very sorry you were a bully target. I did a research paper on bullying in college and now understand that the bullies are very careful in who they choose as their targets and often are victims of others (parents, gangs, etc.) You’re blessed to have had parents who acted quickly and removed you from the situation. Many kids are not so blessed.
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Thanks for your compassion, Lisa. While I usually don’t condone violence, I should have had the guts to “fight” the leader of the bully pack. Unfortunately, I never was physically strong or skilled in fighting. Then again, it may have been all for the better. At least, nobody got hurt physically.
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(Emotional or other) violence met with violence rarely ends up well. I’m glad you and your parents chose another path. Having been the target of bullying myself, I do know that the emotional wounds might scar over but they are not totally forgotten… Let’s hope that karma has taken care of the bullies for us.
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Luckily, I managed to leave it behind. Not only did I join my friends at the other school but I also tremendously improved academically and ended up graduating with a decent GPA. So I guess it was a happy ending.
And, yes, I will always be grateful to my parents that they had the wisdom to take me out of that school. The “cost” of having to repeat 5th grade was insignificant. I never would have thrived at the old school academically. In fact, they probably wouldn’t have advanced me to 6th grade since I was failing MUSIC, of all subjects!😆
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I love Shirley! Such anthems. I saw Garbage in concert during their Bleed Like Me tour.
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Oh that is so cool, T. To see her live would be something. I bet her energy beams out larger than life.
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She is larger than life… And hot! I’m straight and questioned if I would turn for her given a chance. 😀
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LOL! Beauty is beauty is my motto.
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I love Shirley, always have. What a brilliant rock star she makes. Garbage are an amazing band. Her issues with her health in the last couple of years have made her an inspiration of a different kind.
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What’s going on with Shirley’s health??
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She’s on crutches these days. Had her leg operated on more than once
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So sorry to hear it. Hard to walk around on stage on crutches 😦
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