Shirley Manson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1966 to John and Muriel Manson, a geneticist and former big band singer respectively. She was named after an aunt who was named after Charlotte Bront'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.

Throughout her youth Manson was a member of Girlguiding UK as a Brownie and a Guide, learned ballet and piano at age seven, and later attended the City of Edinburgh Music School, the music department of Broughton High. 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. Other members of the group included Rebecca Pigeon and Sara Stewart.

Manson was bullied and beaten up due to her red hair and large eyes. She suffered from depression as a teenager and engaged in self-injury: 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: she smoked cannabis and sniffed glue, drank, shoplifted, and once broke into the Edinburgh Zoo. Manson's first job was volunteer 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. Manson became well known throughout Edinburgh's clubbing scene, and making use of free samples from Miss Selfridge, styled hair for a number of local bands. Despite her own feelings towards her look, Manson also briefly modeled clothing for Jackie magazine.

Manson was cast in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles in May 2008, after being asked to appear by series creator Josh Friedman and enduring a multiple audition process, beating out other actresses including Julie Ann Emery. She debuted in the season two premier episode "Samson and Delilah" as Catherine Weaver, a CEO of a technology company, ZeiraCorp. At the conclusion of the episode, Weaver is revealed to be a liquid-metal T-1001 Terminator. Manson also performed the gospel song "Samson and Delilah" for the episode's score.

As the storyline has progressed, the T-1001/Weaver character has acquired "The Turk" chess-playing computer, and allowed it to develop and grow; after enlisting FBI agent James Ellison to capture a Terminator unit for her, she uses the endoskeleton as a physical body for the Turk, known as John Henry. The T-1001 has learned to mimic the actions of the human Weaver, whom it replaced prior, and is also bringing up Weaver's daughter, Savannah. The T-1001 has been shown to have the same morphing abilities as the T-1000, seen in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and has used those abilities to kill and deceive in a number of episodes. Ms. Weaver had not directly encountered John or Sarah Connor before the episode "Adam Raised A Cain", in which it is revealed to ZeiraCorp that Sarah Conner is existing in their time, 8 years after her death, hiding out and proactively trying to prevent SkyNet. It is in the following episode, "Born To Run", that the Weaver/Terminator meets the Connors, face to face, for the first time. Manson cites actress Glenn Close and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as her acting influences for the character. Manson also played the human Weaver in archive footage viewed by the T-1001 in the episode "The Tower Is Tall, But The Fall Is Short".

Manson's first musical experiences came from briefly singing with local Edinburgh acts The Wild Indians and performed backing vocals with Autumn 1984. While she was acting in her group, Manson was approached by Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie's lead Martin Metcalfe to join his band. Manson embarked on a relationship with Metcalfe initially, but remained involved after splitting from him and became a prominent member of the group, performing keyboards, backing vocals and becoming involved in the band's business side. Manson's first release with the Mackenzies was a YTS release of "Death of a Salesman" in 1984. The group signed a major label record deal with Capitol Records in 1987, and they released their first album Good Deeds and Dirty Rags, and their only UK Top 40 hit "The Rattler". In 1990, the group's contract was transferred to Parlophone, another EMI label, but after two singles failed to chart Parlophone declined to release the groups second album Hammer and Tongs.

Gary Kurfirst, who managed Talking Heads and Deborah Harry, bought the Mackenzies contract and issued their second album through his own label Radioactive, a subsidiary of MCA. After another single failed to chart, the group were persuaded to leave Radioactive by their management. 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. Although MCA had no desire to further their commitments to Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie, the label expressed interest in recording an album with Manson, and after hearing several demos, Kurfirst signed Manson to Radioactive as a solo artist, with the remaining Mackenzies performing as her backing band to circumvent the band's existing deal with MCA. Manson's contract obligated her to deliver at least one album and, at the sole option of Radioactive, up to six additional albums. Manson performing during the Bleed Like Me Tour.

Recording under the name Angelfish, and using some of the newly written material and a previously released Mackenzie b-side, Manson and the group recorded the tracks that would make up the Angelfish album in Connecticut with Talking Heads' Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. A lead in track "Suffocate Me" sent to college radio where it was well received. Angelfish and second single "Heartbreak To Hate" followed in 1994. Angelfish toured the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, and co-supported Live on a tour of North America, along with Vic Chestnutt. The music video for "Suffocate Me" was aired on MTV's 120 Minutes. Producer and musician Steve Marker caught the broadcast and thought Manson would be a great singer for his band, Garbage, which also featured producers Duke Erikson and Butch Vig.

Vig invited Manson to Smart Studios to sing on a couple of tracks. After an unsuccessful audition, she returned to Angelfish. At the end of 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 the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough, becoming the third Scotswoman to sing a Bond theme after Lulu and Sheena Easton. In the accompanying video, she portrays an android assassin. 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, featured Manson's most forward and personal lyrics to date. The album did not sell as well as its predecessors, but 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 began an extended hiatus in October 2005. Garbage reformed to play a tribute show in 2007, as well as record some new tracks for greatest hits album Absolute Garbage, Vig has said the band may reform in 2008, with the goal of recording a fifth album. While Garbage did indeed reform in 2008 to fashion a new track entitled "Witness To Your Love" for a charity album sold exclusively at Urban Outfitters stores nationwide, Manson told Carson Daly on his late-night talk show that she is uncertain as to whether or not Garbage will gather to create a fifth studio record

Source

This is a "Basic" page on SideReel - it can be about anything and anyone can edit it.You can add text, a picture, links or more by editing the page. Check out the links above if you need help.