The Vocal Range of Shirley Manson

DISCLAIMER: I had to borrow these audio clips from YouTube, and not every video was uploaded with the same quality/mastering levels. I did my best to try and smooth some of it out, but I don't have access to the mixes...I apologize for some of the inconsistencies in audio levels/quality. Not sure why some clips, even pulled from the band's own YouTube page, aren't on par with others. "Silence is Golden" clip was supposed to be longer, sorry!


Shirley Manson is the Scottish lead singer of the band Garbage, who rose to fame in the 1990's as an alternative rock staple. Incorporating a large variety of genres and influences, the band's name comes from just that, their penchant for blending more sounds than you can keep up with. Their influences range from alternative rock to dream pop to shoegaze to electronica to pop to industrial to techno to glam rock to house music to R&B to trip-hop to gothic rock. I personally find that their exciting blend of elements is bound together perfectly by Shirley's dynamic voice, which ranges from intimate whispers and masculine lows to staggering mid-range belts and soft, feminine highs. I believe she can probably sing a bit lower and higher than I've managed to find for this video, but she still has an impressive range and can play with the tonality of her voice extremely well. There is a huge difference in her tone between songs like "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)" and "I Think I'm Paranoid." She does a lot within each area of her voice to change the emotional impact and experience. Something I did not include in this video is her ability to sing-speak, which you can hear on tracks such as "Godhead" or "Hammering in My Head." I really enjoy the visceral quality of passages such as those, and I believe it takes just as much talent if not more to pull off a spoken-word section.

I hope you enjoy the video - thanks for watching!