Shirley Manson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on August 26, 1966. Her red hair and green eyes led to teasing from her classmaters who often called her "frog eyes" and "blood hound". Her unhappy childhood caused depression as she grew older. Her outlet for this was music. She joined a few bands such as August 1984, Wild Indians and Goodbye, Mr. McKenzie. She was lead singer for a band called Angelfish when a man by the name of Butch Vig took notice. Butch was forming a band with friends Steve Marker, Duke Erikson and Daniel Shulman and offered Shirley a place in the band. Thus, Garbage was formed. The band has since released four albums, a greatest hits album, a DVD of their music videos and participated in soundtracks for the hit films Romeo and Juliet and The World Is Not Enough. Shirley was offered a modeling contract with Calvin Klein and does ads for MAC with legend Elton John and R&B Diva Mary J. Blige. Shirley was married to Scottish artist Eddie Farrell from 1996 to 2001.
The title of this fanlisting came from an ad for Harley Davidson Motorcycles featuring women in rock, in which Shirley was referred to as a rock star poet.