My final installment in this week’s ‘sexy series’ is the only one who’s part of a group. But, like her friend and contemporary Gwen Stefani, Shirley Manson so dominates the men surrounding her that they may as well be session musicians.

I’m sorry, that’s not fair to Bruce Vig and the rest of Garbage, who co-write all of the songs, play instruments and work magic in the studio. Garbage is so successful because of the way that musicianship and production wizardry blends with such a charismatic lead singer. Shirley Manson could no doubt embark on a solo career but I doubt she’d be as effective as she is when taming the mechanical bull of a band that plays behind her.

I remember the clip below very well. It was the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards… in a more innocent time, when nobody knew who Kanye West was. I’d recently gotten Garbage’s self-titled debut and considered myself a fan, but the images of Manson on the inside sleeve were more scary than sexy. Seeing her live in that tight white dress, though, served as something of a religious conversion. And I won’t even mention the occasional glimpse of those black panties (ok, I’ll mention it that once).

Manson is another example (see: Lily Allen) of a drop-dead sexy accent, though it’s mostly hidden in her singing voice. You hear it in a cute snippet at the end of this video. There’s just something about a woman with a Scottish accent.