Carmen Electra has once again credited late music icon Prince with coining her stage name and launching her early career.
The actress and vocalist was recently on an episode of Entertainment Tonight Then & Now, where she looked back on her career origins and being mentored by The Purple One. In 1993, Electra released her eponymous debut and only album to date on Prince’s Paisley Park Records.
“The early, early days when I had no idea what I was going to do, I was almost kind of homeless in LA, the struggle was so real,” said Electra, whose real name is Tara Leigh Patrick.
Electra recounted that she was working on music with Prince when she decided to dye her hair brown. “It's emotional for me because I've done so much more than I could have even imagined at that time,” said the 53-year-old.
Electra explained that Prince was “absolutely right” about Electra’s renaming. “I mean, at first when he said, ‘You just don't look like a Tara.’ I was a little bit insulted, you know?” Electra recounted. “He said, ‘How could your mama name you Tara?" And I was like, ‘What? I like that name.’ It means Earth, and I'm a double Taurus. Hello. So, he thought Carmen would be a cool name.”
The former Baywatch star thought “Electra” “sounded like a superhero name,” which was later confirmed when she learned of Marvel Comics hero Elektra Natchios. "But it really stuck and and I just decided to stick with it,” she said.
Electra, who legally changed her name in 2024, often talks about her early friendship with Prince, who died in 2016 at 57 years old after an accidental fentanyl. overdose. Electra further elaborated on Prince’s early support at 90s Con Florida.
"He just set me up, and he was so supportive," she said during the event. "With his support, I got a tad bit more confident, and just tried things and tried to keep that in mind with all my insecurities that I still have.”
