Carmen Electra Remembers ‘Musical Genius’ Prince: ‘He Gave Me My Name, He Believed in Me’

Chris Gardner
·1 min read

There would be no Carmen Electra without Prince.

After arriving to Hollywood, the aspiring dancer and singer auditioned for an all-girl group that Prince was assembling in the early 1990s using her birth name, Tara Leigh Patrick. She didn’t make the group, but Electra wound up with something better — a place under Prince’s wing as one of his protégés.

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He would guide her short-lived music career, but not before renaming the artist formerly known as Tara Leigh Patrick. As she once recalled, Prince gave her the name Carmen Electra, telling her, “You’re not a Tara. You’re not Tara. You’re Carmen.”

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After hearing about Prince’s death on Thursday, Electra sent a statement to The Hollywood Reporter via her rep, Jack Ketsoyan, saying that she was “shocked and heartbroken.”

“The world has lost a truly incredible spirit and musical genius. What a blessing it is to be one of the chosen ones who had the chance to work so closely with him,” said Electra, who was also romantically involved with Prince. “He gave me my name, he believed in me, and he has inspired an entire generation. I will always love him.”

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She ended her statement with “Sometimes it Snows in April,” a nod to his popular ballad from the album Parade, which served as the soundtrack to the film Under the Cherry Moon. Prince died at the age of 57 inside his Paisley Park home in Minnesota.

This article originally appeared in THR.com.

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