Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on August 26th 1966. The lead of Garbage, Shirley Manson lived a rather difficult life. Her family which included an older and younger sister as well as a Big Band singer for a mother and a professor of animal breeding and poultry genetics as a father, Shirley's family was in no way poor. Yet despite growing up in good home, Shirley was not a very happy little girl. Like most red heads, Shirley was teased relentlessly at school. To make matter worse, kids found her eyes to be protruding and found countless names to make fun of her for that too. Some of the times, she would return home bloody and bruised. This would result in her developing a nervous anxiety and subsequently turned the once happy little girl into a depressed suicidal. 

During her teenage years, the poor bullied soul began to lash out, dressing awkwardly, drinking, smoking cigarettes & hanging out with kids much older then herself. She was going through a difficult phase of self hatred. She began to cut herself & lost her virginity at the young age of 15. Needless to say her school grades went down the drain.

At the age of sixteen, she joined her boyfriend's rock band, Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie as a backup singer and a keyboardist. The band lasted around ten years before it broke up. Soon after that she joined another band called Angelfish. The band had a few hits that made it to MTV but in general they weren't all that good. The band broke up & Shirley was without a band.

She later auditioned for Garbage & the band mates were stunned by her talent. Butch had seen saw her on MTV and wanted to meet her. They knew she was the one for them.


Garbage was an imminent success & currently has three albums to its name. While she still deals with self acceptance, Shirley is definitely not the sad little girl from her past. Currently she is married to Scottish artist, Eddie Farrell. The two keep in contact via e-mail while she is on tour.