Garbage’s Shirley Manson Updates Fans on Recovery After Surgery: ‘She Lives’

Shirley Manson, the iconic frontwoman of Garbage, has given fans a hopeful update as she recovers from surgery following the band’s decision to cancel all remaining 2024 tour dates.

On Oct. 7, Manson took to social media, sharing a photo of herself in a hospital bed with the simple caption, “She lives.”

In another follow-up post, the iconic singer expressed her gratitude to those supporting her during her recovery and reflected on the challenges she’s faced over the past few months.

“I’m choosing to remind myself, as I lie here trying to recover from major surgery, that there are still beautiful things in the world. Animals, flowers, oceans, trees. I’m so grateful to all the people who have gone out of their way to love on me, take care of me, check in on me. I cling on to their kindness and their thoughtfulness and their care,” she said.

“Mostly, I have spent the week in bed. Mostly, I have been doomscrolling. As you can imagine, like everyone else, I’m trying really hard not to lose my mind,” she shared.

Manson also used the post to call for peace amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, writing, “We are all living in the same world. We all deserve a life of peace and happiness. No one will convince me otherwise. Where you have inequality and injustice there will be suffering.”

The update comes after Garbage announced in August that all remaining tour dates for 2024 would be canceled due to an injury Manson sustained during the band’s European performances.

On Aug. 7, Manson shared more details about the toll the injury had taken, revealing that she had returned from the tour “an absolute hot mess.”

In her post, she explained, “So broken that my poor husband had to push me through Heathrow and LAX airports in a wheelchair. I also had a dose of laryngitis and a massive cold sore on my lip.”

Fans were understandably concerned about her vocal health, but Manson reassured them in a follow-up post that everything was under control.

“I was freaking out that I had somehow managed to damage my vocal cords on top of everything else, but yesterday I was scoped and everything is as it should be,” she shared, offering a glimpse of her vocal cords for good measure.

Though she hasn’t gone into detail about the surgery, things seem to be looking up. Garbage is gearing up for their 2025 South American tour, where they’ll be joined by L7 for shows across Bogotá, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo, starting in March.

On top of that, Garbage fans can look forward to a special Record Store Day Black Friday release on Nov. 29. The band is dropping copy/paste, a collection of covers they’ve performed as an homage to luminaries such as David Bowie, Ramones, Patti Smith, U2, Big Star, Siouxsie and the Banshees and more.

Jessica Lynch

Billboard