Yet while she is a star in her native Costa Rica, in the United States and elsewhere, Nova is virtually unknown. The singer-songwriter hopes to change that with her album debut, "Luna Nueva" (which means New Moon), out May 18 on Decca Records. And she is getting some big help with her project: Gustavo Santaolalla, the legendary Argentine musician who was introduced to English audiences with his Academy Award-winning score for 2005's "Brokeback Mountain," is the album's producer.

"There have to be certain traits in an artist that will make me excited to work with them. In the case of Debi, there are a lot of things that attracted me," he said in a statement.

"She's a great musician to start with. She writes great songs. She's a great performer. Debi has that talent that she can write in part Spanish and English and, as part of the concept of this album, both Spanish and English in the same song. All those things add up to make Debi a very exciting artist."

"Luna Nueva" has 10 songs and includes the single "Drummer Boy," a contagious tune whose sensual video has been on rotation on various MTV channels and other outlets since last month.