Shirley Manson: Charity Work & Causes

Shirley Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage.
She now lives in Los Angeles from where she conducts a considerable amount of her charity work. Her philanthropy began in earnest when she launched a Garbage branded lipgloss whose proceeds went to Grampian Children’s Cancer Research, the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York.

Shirley became an ambassador for the M·A·C AIDS Fund in 2001, along with Elton John and Mary J. Blige and donated over $300,000 to the cause.

She also helped the Elton John AIDS Foundation when she filmed a Public Service Announcement in 2003, promoting the use of condoms.

Mason is also linked to animal rights; in 2007, she fronted a campaign for PETA Europe against fashion furs. She has also adopted numerous rescue animals.

Mason has been a patron of Waverley Care since 2001. She hosted a fund raiser charity auction for the cause in 2004 which raised over £45,000 and included a fender guitar owned by the singer and items from Kylie Minogue and Elton John. In 2008 she accepted a cheque for £51,000 from the M·A·C AIDS Fund on their behalf.

2008 also saw Manson become involved with the Pablove Foundation which supports the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She reformed Garbage to produce an exclusive track, ‘Witness To Your Love’ for the charity album that was released that year. She hosted a fundraiser that featured the Silversun Pickups and performed at another, both in aid of the Pablove Foundation.

In 2010 she donated two hand-decorated t-shirts to a charity auction in aid of Artists for Peace and Justice which went towards the Haiti victims.