She has also appeared in the second season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show, and sang the intro song, Samson and Delilah, on the first episode. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Manson is the second of three daughters. Her father is a geneticist and her mother is a former big band singer. At age seven, Shirley began learning the piano, later attending the City of Edinburgh Music School where she also joined the school’s theatre group. At school, she was regularly bullied, and inflicted self harm. Children teased her because of her red hair and large, popping eyes. She sometimes returned home after school, bloody and bruised from the bullying. The never-ending teasing and bullying led her into a deep depression, and she began to cut herself, among other things. Her first experience with music was with the bands Autumn 1904 and Wild Indians. When she was 16, Shirley joined Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie, where she sang backup vocals and played the keyboards. She remained in the band for a decade until they split in 1992. After the split, Shirley and 2 other members of the band formed Angelfish, another band where Shirley sang lead vocals. Angelfish released a self titled album and one single, ‘Suffocate Me’. After seeing ‘Suffocate Me’ on MTV, Butch Vig was impressed and wanted Shirley to front his band Garbage. After 2 auditions, Shirley became the lead singer in 1994. Manson immediately set about re-writing the lyrics to the band’s already written songs. The resulting collaborative efforts became Garbage, the band’s debut album, which would go on to sell 5 million copies worldwide, earning double platinum certifications in UK, US and Australia. The album produced hit singles and breakthrough hits such as “Stupid Girl”, “Only Happy When It Rains” and “Vow”. By the time their second album, Version 2.0, was being recorded in the band’s own studio, Manson had become the band’s primary lyricist, but was still regarded by many as simply the face of Garbage. As a regular musical contributor and guitarist, she felt great disappointment at the general perception of her role in the group. After her brief role as a model for Calvin Klein and the confidence that composer David Arnold had shown her while co-producing the theme for the James Bond film, “The World Is Not Enough”, Shirley began to write more self-reflective lyrics, which ended up on the band’s third album, beautifulgarbage. Garbage briefly dissolved in 2003 due to in-fighting. After resolving their problems, they reformed to record their fourth album, Bleed Like Me, which was released in April of 2005. The album reached the top 5 in the US, and overall sold well around the world. As of October 2005, Garbage is on an indefinite hiatus due to the fact that the band has been constantly producing and promoting albums and touring for the past decade. According to Manson the current situation between the band’s members is “good”. |Since Garbage is currently on an indefinite hiatus, fans have speculated whether or not Manson will record a solo CD. This issue was finally confirmed on March 1st, 2006, when record producer David Arnold’s official website announced that “David has just completed writing and producing with Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage, for her new upcoming project”. Billboard.com reported that she intends to record a solo album but she insists that Garbage has not broken up. Manson revealed to the Sunday Times on July 2nd, 2006 that she had contacted Paul Buchanan of Scottish group The Blue Nile to write with her for her solo album. “I thought he’d be very moody and introverted, but he’s not like that at all. He’s quite outgoing and charming. Neither of us has ever written with anybody else before. It’s going to be strange. We’ll see how it goes - it could be a complete unmitigated disaster.” Manson had previously stated on her online journal that “there’s nobody quite like Paul Buchanan to bring the bleakness out in me”. |
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