Her name is: Eha Urbsalu

Her bag is: Euro pop-slash-dance music with a sexy edge.

Be sure to download: Show Me How, Touch Me, Together.

You don’t have to be drop-dead gorgeous supermodel to become an international dance music star or film actress, but it certainly doesn’t hurt if you look hot in a bikini the way Eha Urbsalu does.

Urbsalu, known as “EHA”, was born in Estonia and has been singing since childhood. As a teenager, she won the last Supermodel of the USSR title.

She worked on her album, EHA, with a A list of musical talent, including Grammy winners Jimmy Douglas, Ernie Lake and Eddie Montilla, house music pioneer Vince Lawrence, Italian DJ Ago and Armando Curcio. She also brought in Mark Mangold and Estonian producers Priit Pajusaar and Russian producer Dmitri.

EHA, who now lives in New York City, is a blend of American and Eastern European musical cultures. Her performance at the Models Next Generation awards in Ecuador was televised by FashionTV and Univision to 30 million viewers.

Sure, she looks pretty. But can she sing? She’s reached #1 in Estonia, won the Best International Artist award at the Toronto Independent Music Awards, and her songs have appeared on compilations alongside tracks by Janet Jackson and Seal.

Savvy talked to EHA at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, where she was promoting her new single, This Time, to DJs…

Savvy: You’ve accomplished a lot in your life so far. Are you just very driven?

EHA: I was always a girl with big dreams, even growing up in the Soviet Union! And I always believed that I would make my dreams come true. I used to be fearless when I was a teenager. I went and competed to become a model at 14, without my parents even knowing. And at 16 I enrolled to Miss Estonia and eventually also won the Supermodel of the whole Soviet Union, all by myself. That took a lot of courage and determination. I don’t know what happened to that fearlessness, though. Now I worry every time I get on stage!

Savvy: Any regrets?

EHA: Changing my life for a boyfriend. It cost me two years of my life. It was always my dream to come to Hollywood and become a movie actress, but I met him and moved to Ohio.

Savvy: Relationships seem to be a theme that runs through your work.

EHA: I guess the songs reflect my inner desires to love and be loved. I’m fascinated about the desire, how it makes people feel and how crazy it gets sometimes.

Savvy: You’re a marketing dream as far as your looks. Even if you were a terrible singer, I might buy your CD just to stare at your picture.

EHA: (Laughs) I remember when I recorded my first songs 7-8 years ago, and I didn’t attach any picture of myself and wore clothes that covered me all up, as I wanted “my art to speak for itself,” and then my producer at a time took me to a meeting and told me to “ wear a miniskirt and just sit pretty.” So what can I say…?

Savvy: When I was younger, I remember hearing that people living in the Soviet Union had their lives planned out for them. This person would become a bureaucrat, that one a plumber, and so forth. Were you pre-destined to become a singer?

EHA: I was put into a musical school from early on, so I grew up listening to a lot of classical music. Also my older sister was studying in conservatory, so I had to listen to her practicing all the instruments, from guitar to piano to accordion to flute and so on. So much so that I got sick of it. When this guy once played me a Sade record, I really fell in love with it and I wanted to make that kind of music.

Savvy: Like Sade, you’re very beautiful and your songs have a sexy edge. How important is it for dance music to be sensual?

EHA: Some of my favorite songs from the album, Show Me How, Missing, are really good for getting into the mood for some sensual activity. I think this is why Missing has been chosen to be on quite a few compilations like Monte Carlo Nights, From the Hamptons to Ibiza and so on.

Savvy: It’s exciting stuff yet kind of mellow at the same time.

EHA: At first I wanted to make a kind of new Sade album and I wrote chill out songs like Missing, Seduced, Do You Feel, but then I met so many producers and DJs around the world who gave me dance tracks to write on, so that’s how the dance records came about.

Savvy: How does your latest project compare to what you’ve done before?

EHA: The new release, This Time, is more aggressive than my other songs. Especially the A. Lee remix is a very hypnotic, sexy track. At first I was almost shocked that he left out the chorus! But then I listened to it and got hooked on it, and seems like many great DJ’s from Barcelona, Ibiza, to Miami and New York, have gotten hooked on it as well.

Savvy: What’s ahead for you?

EHA: I will spend my time this year to write and promote the new songs. They are like babies; you can’t just throw them out to the world. They need support and care. Recently I was in Miami and I met almost everyone from Ibiza, I think! And they all invited me to perform in Ibiza, so I need to go! Also, I always wanted my songs to be part of movies, so I guess I should figure out how to do that.

Savvy: Speaking of performing, where can Savvy readers check out your live show?

EHA: I don’t have a fixed schedule, the opportunities just kind of happen. When I’m asked to perform somewhere and if it seems like an interesting thing, I go and do it! I do post stuff on my website, Ehamusic.com.

Savvy: Do you write all of your material?

EHA: I do write most of the songs or co-write with my producers.

Savvy: Aside from Sade, any other inspirations?

EHA: I do listen to great singers and get inspired by them. And career-wise, I learn bits and pieces of wisdom from different people all the time.

Savvy: You mentioned your acting career. I read that you were in a movies with Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick. Not a shabby list of credits you have there!

EHA: I’m in Steven Soderbergh’s new movie Guerrilla about Che Guevara. I have always loved acting from when I was a kid. Sometimes I think acting is like when you were a kid and pretended to be a superhero, a nurse, a teacher or whomever, so now as an adult I actually get paid to do that! My mother was a costume designer in a movie studio in Estonia, so I guess I grew up in a middle of it all. I became a background child actor in many Estonian movies, plying the girl riding the bicycle or walking into the store to buy candy and licking the lollipop.

Savvy: Do you prefer acting over singing?

EHA: These days you don’t have to choose just one thing to do. I love them all: singing, song writing, and acting. I’d also love to paint, but I’m not that good at it. (Laughs)

Savvy: Since your mother designed costumes for the movies, do you craft your own image or have stylists do it for you?

EHA: Three years ago I started to make my own costumes and dresses for performances, so now it’s kind of my art inside out. I don’t have a need for a stylist, but I do listen to my friends.

Savvy: Musicians always have great stories from performing. What’s the story you always tell?

EHA: I think as an entertainer you get thrown into many situations where you don’t have control, and you just have to relay on a good attitude and a smile. One of my moments was when I was performing at the Model Of The Year Awards in Equador, and right before going to the stage I was told that the host might have to ask me few questions after my song, to cover the time while the contestants were changing clothes. Now this was shown via Univision to 30 million people and I didn’t have time to tell them that I don’t speak much Spanish!

Savvy: Oh no!

EHA: So there I was on stage, live! I was lucky that the host, Bertino Osborne from Spain, after asking me couple of questions in Spanish and me just smiling and nodding my head, switched to English and then translated, with some funny twists to my answers. It could’ve been embarrassing… I have part of that video on my web site.

Savvy: In front of 30 million people? Wow! That will make you break into a cold sweat.

EHA: I have many strange stories from around the world, but one thing that has always saved me, the advice that I can give is: No matter if you’re under bombing in Beirut – which I was -- or almost naked on top of the tree in Morocco when a busload of tourists come by -- I was -- try to stay cool, and respect the culture of the people and the place where you are.

Savvy: Good advice, Eha. Thanks and good luck.

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http://www.ehamusic.com

http://www.myspace.com/ehaurbsalu

http://www.digichannel.net/index_artist.php?cat=1&subc=1&art=277&video=0 (Music video for EHA’s Touch Me)