Shirley Ann Manson FRSA (born 26 August 1966) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician, and actress who is the lead singer of the Scottish-American rock band Garbage,[1] who have toured worldwide and sold over 17 million records as of 2017.

Manson's musical career began in her teens, when she was approached to perform backing vocals and keyboards for the band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie.

[13] Her first public performance was in 1970, at age four, singing "Never Smile at a Crocodile" with her older sister in an amateur show held at the local Church Hill Theatre.

[7][13] 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, when she also joined a choir.

She was absent for most of her final year at school[12] and began smoking cannabis, sniffing glue, drinking alcohol, shoplifting, and on one occasion breaking into Edinburgh Zoo.

She 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.

[22] Manson's first musical experiences came from briefly singing with local Edinburgh acts The Wild Indians and performed backing vocals with Autumn 1904.

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

[27] The band's debut album Garbage was released in August 1995, and went on to sell over 4 million copies, buoyed by a run of high charting singles including "Only Happy When It Rains" and "Stupid Girl."

[31] 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, 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.

[43] In February 2023, Garbage announced their Summer 2023 co-headline North American tour with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds featuring Metric as special guests.

14 additional songs co-written with Kurstin and registered on copyright and performance rights societies included Don't Want To Pretend, Don't Want Anyone Hurt, Gone Upside, Hot Shit, Kid Ourselves, Little Dough, Pure Genius, Sweet Old World, Spooky, So Shines A Good Deed, The Desert, No Regrets, Stop, To Be King.

[65] Most recently Manson performed vocals on a track written by Serj Tankian entitled "The Hunger", a single from the rock musical Prometheus Bound.

"[67] Manson was cast in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in May 2008,[68] after being asked to appear by series creator Josh Friedman and enduring a multiple audition process, beating out other actresses including Julie Ann Emery.

[87] By 2007, the combined six VIVAMAC campaigns had raised over $100 million U.S. dollars,[88] and as a former ambassador Manson accepted a cheque for £51,000 on behalf of HIV charity Waverley Care from the M•A•C AIDS Fund on 10 April 2008 at Harvey Nichols Edinburgh store.

[91] In 2008, 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.

[93] Manson reformed Garbage to contribute an exclusive track, "Witness to Your Love", to a charity album for the Foundation;[94] signed off a Pablove poster for auction on eBay;[93] Manson also hosted a fundraiser headlined by the Silversun Pickups,[95] and performed acoustically on-stage at a second fundraiser with Butch Vig and Laura Jane Grace (for a rendition of "Witness...") and with Greg Kurstin (for a cover of Pablo's favourite song, David Bowie's "Life on Mars?").

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

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

[98][99] "We wanted to work with a female vocalist who didn't have a high, chirpy, quality to her voice, we had discussed who we really respect, and names like Patti Smith and Chrissie Hynde came up.

Elysa Gardner of the Los Angeles Times stated "one of Garbage's most compelling features is a force of nature: Manson's vocals, which can convey a multitude of emotions without ever coming across as melodramatic".

In other eras she might have been a pop torch singer, a soul belter or a new-wave frontwoman: a Shirley Bassey, a Dusty Springfield, or a Chrissie Hynde.

[106] Green Left Weekly, in a review of Garbage, remarked that Manson "vocalist and guitarist, has a powerful voice, which soars and dips like a bird.

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

[111] Manson also grew up listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Frank Sinatra,[9] The Clash, The Sugarcubes,[122] Cocteau Twins,[122][123] Iggy and the Stooges,[124] Echo & the Bunnymen,[125] and The Velvet Underground.

[12] For acting, she cites actress Glenn Close and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as influences for her Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles performance.

"[29][127] Manson has been credited with inspiring later female artists; including Amy Lee,[128] Florence Welch,[129][130] Taylor Momsen,[131] Liz Anjos of RAC and The Pragmatic,[132] Screaming Females' Marissa Paternoster,[133][134] Dee Dee Penny of Dum Dum Girls,[135] Skylar Grey,[136][137] Paramore's Hayley Williams,[138] Ritzy Bryan (lead singer and guitarist of The Joy Formidable),[139] Katy Perry, Lady Gaga,[140] Potty Mouth's Ally Einbinder,[134] Billie Eilish,[141][142] Peaches,[143] Radiator Hospital's Cynthia Schemmer,[134] The Great Wilderness' Paola Rogue,[144] Marina and the Diamonds,[145] and Lana Del Rey.

[172] 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.

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