Article Surfing Archive

Carmen Electra is a well-known American entertainer, model, television personality and actress. She has her toes and in many different performance fields but has never achieved breakout success in any single one of them. She is better known for her racy and flamboyant antics than for anything she has ever accomplished and the arts or entertainment industry.

Her real name is Tara Leigh Patrick and she was born on April 20th, in White Oak, Ohio. Her family is of German, Irish, and Native American descent. When she turned nine she went to a performance arts school, where she practiced her singing voice and dancing ability. When she was a teenager she picked up stakes and went to Minneapolis where she found work as a model for Target. She moved in with her sister. If A few years later in 1992, she relocated to LA where she immediately met the famous singer Prince, one of Minneapolis' well-known sons.

Prince was so enamored with Tara's look that he signed her up with his record label, Paisley Park Records, and talked her into renaming herself Carmen Electra. Prince was always renaming beautiful girls. Unfortunately, even though Prince did everything he could to help her music career, it was an abject failure. Apparently, just being easy to look at it isn't enough.

That certainly didn't stop her aspirations or celebrity. Carmen Electra was still nonetheless a celebrity, making appearances on TV and in motion pictures. In 1996, she posed for Hugh Hefners Playboy magazine which of course instantly boosted her Q-rating in both good and bad ways. In 1997 and 1998 she starred in the inexplicably popular TV series Baywatch, with Pamela Anderson. Well I guess it wasn't all that hard to figure out why they got such good ratings. Also in 1997, she hosted a couple of shows on MTV. In 1998 she actually married the goofy basketball player, Dennis Rodman, and the couple was separated nine days later. Unsurprised it lasted that long. Their marriage was later annulled and they went their separate ways. In the next several years Carmen appeared and a couple of small movie roles.

In 2003, Carmen married former Red Hot chili Peppers member Dave Navarro, who was currently the guitarist for the band Jane's Addiction. Before they got married, MTV shot a reality show entitled 'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave', which chronicled the couple's lives as they made preparations for the pending nuptials. In 2004, she had another small role in the movie version of the 1970's TV show Starsky and Hutch, starring comedic actors Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.

Though she has never achieved widespread mainstream fame and fortune as a singer, model or actress, Carmen Electra is still one of the most recognizable women in the United States. What a country. The sum total of her performance experiences, and her vivacious personality has gathered her enough attention to remain in the spotlight for some years to come. Carmen Electra is proof that you don't need talent to make it in America.