Shirley Manson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1966 to John, a geneticist, and Muriel Manson, a former big band singer. She was named for an aunt who was named after Charlotte Brontė's novel Shirley. She was born middle-child between older sister Lindy-Jayne and younger sister Sarah, and was brought up in the Stockbridge area of the city. Manson learned to play the piano at age seven, and later attended the City of Edinburgh Music School, the music department of Broughton High. She also was a Brownie and was a member of the Girl Guides.

While at Broughton, Manson became an active member of its drama group, acting in plays such as The American Dream and The Wizard of Oz. Manson was bullied due to her red hair and large eyes. This led her to depression and drove her to "cutting": she carried a sharp object in the laces of her boots and cut herself when she felt stress, depression, or anxiety.

Manson was bullied until she associated herself with a rebel crowd, and played truant for most of her final year at school. She also began to experiment with drugs: smoking cannabis and sniffing glue, drinking, shoplifting, and once broke into Edinburgh Zoo. Manson's first job was voluntary work in a local hospital's cafeteria, then as a breakfast waitress at a local hotel before spending five years as a shop assistant for Miss Selfridge, beginning on the make-up counter. Manson was eventually moved into stockrooms for her attitude to customers. Despite her own feelings towards her look, Manson also briefly modeled clothing for Jackie magazine.

Manson became a regular on Edinburgh's clubbing scene, and, equipped with free samples from Miss Selfridge, was well known as the hair stylist for a number of local bands. She sang with The Wild Indians and performed backing vocals with Autumn 1904, but had moved on by the time either act put out any work.

At a local theatre group, Manson was approached by Martin Metcalfe, of Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie, to join his band. Manson initially became sexually involved with him, but remained in the group after their split becoming a prominent member of the group. Although she wasn't the frontperson, playing keyboards and singing backing vocals, she was very involved in the business side of the group. Manson's first release with the Mackenzies was a YTS release of "Death of a Salesman" in 1984. The Mackenzies became very well known in Scotland, receiving plenty of local airplay, and selling out major Scottish venues, while south of the border, the music press disliked them and they were treated with general apathy.

The Mackenzies were eventually signed in 1988 by major label Capitol Records, who released their first album Good Deeds and Dirty Rags, which charted at #23 in April 1989, following their sole top forty single "The Rattler" which peaked at #37 in the February of that year. After a run of singles failing to chart, the band were dropped. They signed to Parlophone, who released a few singles before selling their contract to Radioactive Records who released their second album Hammer and Tongs in March 1991 and a self-titled compilation of the Mackenzie's albums internationally.

Radioactive's distributor MCA Records were not keen on the Mackenzies, but they were keen on putting out a record with Manson singing solo. In February 1993, Manson was signed as a solo artist to circumvent the Mackenzie's existing deal and kept the group on as her backing musicians (minus two members) [ Her solo contract obligated Manson to deliver at least one album and, at the sole option of Radioactive, up to six additional albums.

Angelfish recorded their album Angelfish in Connecticut with Talking Heads' Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, with a single release of "Suffocate Me" in June 1993 on the Wasteland label. The album followed in February 1994 with second single "Heartbreak To Hate", and was well received on college radio. Angelfish toured U.S., Canada, France, Belgium and alongside Vic Chesnutt, co-supported Live on a tour of North America. Around the time of these dates MTV's 120 Minutes aired the band's video for "Suffocate Me". Producer and musician Steve Marker had seen the airing and thought Manson would be a great singer for his band, Garbage, which also featured producers Duke Erikson and Butch Vig but had no lead, but were set on having a woman as their singer.

Vig invited Manson to Smart Studios to sing on a couple of tracks. After a dreadful audition, she returned to Angelfish. At the end the Live tour, Angelfish imploded and Manson returned to Smart for a second try. She began to work on the then-skeletal origins of some songs and the band invited her to become a full-time member of the band and finish the album. In August 1994, Radioactive gave their permission for Manson to work with Garbage.

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". Manson quickly became the public face of the band over the course of a tour that took the band through to the end of 1996.

Manson became the band's chief song-writer for the follow up record Version 2.0 which equaled the success of the band's debut record after its May 1998 release. During the two year tour in support of the record, Manson modeled 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, features Manson's most forward and heartfelt lyrics to date. The album did not sell as well as its predecessors, however Garbage performed a successful world tour in support of it.

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. Garbage disbanded on an "extended hiatus" in the October of that year.

Garbage reformed to play a tribute show in 2007, as well as record some new tracks for greatest hits album Absolute Garbage. Garbage are planning to reform properly in 2008, with a view to record its fifth record.

Throughout 2006 and 2007, Manson has kept busy recording a solo record, collaborating with songwriter Paul Buchanan, US rock musicians Jack White, Billy Corgan and Beck, producer and keyboardist Greg Kurstin and James Bond soundtrack composer David Arnold. Garbage drummer and former Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins producer Butch Vig is also co-writing and producing for her album.

During this time Manson has also worked with Eric Avery on a duet for his debut album, with Debbie Harry on a duet, and also played a dominatrix in the promotional video for She Wants Revenge's single "These Things".

--Wikipedia