Carmen Electra

Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, television personality, and entertainer. She gained fame for her appearances in Playboy magazine, on the MTV game show Singled Out, and on the TV series Baywatch, and has since become recognizable for her roles in the parody films Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans but Carmen Electra is also the self-titled debut album by Carmen Electra, released in 1993. The album was a project designed by Prince to promote Electra, his latest protégé at the time whom he was also dating, as a sexy female rapper. The album features music written by Prince with some input by band member Levi Seacer, Jr.. Lyrics were provided by Prince, along with Seacer, NPG rapper Tony M. and female rapper Monie Love. Four singles were released from the album: "Go Go Dancer", "Everybody Get on Up", "Fantasia Erotica" and "Fun". Both "Fantasia Erotica" and "Everybody Get on Up" were modestly received in the clubs, with one of the singles, "Everybody Get on Up" charting. It peaked at #33 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and #18 on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. The album was not well received and effectively ended Electra's recording career. In interviews, she has pointed out that during the time of the album's release, Prince was having problems with his label which could have contributed to its failure. However, Electra recovered and became a successful model, celebrity and actress. Patrick moved to California in 1992, where she met Prince while auditioning for an all-girl rap group. Prince persuaded her to change her name to Carmen Electra and instead record a solo album. Soon after, she signed a recording contract with Prince's company Paisley Park Records, marking the start of a short-lived singing career. In 1999, Carmen released her rare sophomore album "C-17 (Carmen And The One Seven Album). She has since recorded more singles but none have been officially released. In 1995, Electra started appearing in various television programs. Then, in May of 1996 she was featured in a nude pictorial in Playboy magazine, the first of several. This exposure led to higher profile television appearances, including Baywatch (cast member from 1997-1998) and MTV's Singled Out. She returned to Baywatch for the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. Electra became so popular among readers of Playboy that she was featured in the magazine three more times, with her second appearance in June 1997. She subsequently graced the cover twice, in December 2000 and April 2003. In the Playboy Cyber Club, she was the first woman invited to be a celebrity guest photographer; she chose Playmate Jennifer Walcott as her subject model. Electra has appeared in several films, such as Good Burger (1997), The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999), the horror spoof Scary Movie (2000) and also appeared in Scary Movie 4 (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Date Movie (2006), the remake of the 1970s TV show Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. She won an MTV Movie Award (best kiss) for Starsky & Hutch. In 1999, she appeared in the Bloodhound Gang's music video of "The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope." In 2005, she joined the voice cast of the animated series Tripping the Rift, replacing Gina Gershon as the voice of the sexy android "Six". Also in 2005, she began the Naked Women's Wrestling League, acting as the commissioner for the professional wrestling promotion. In late 2006, Carmen began to be featured in commercials by Taco Bell. In 2010, Electra will appear in the upcoming Vampire spoof film, "Vampire Suck" to be released, on August 18th, 2010. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.