Power BI not recognizing Mysql database

Hi there - I'm trying to connect Power BI to my mysql database connection and am getting the error message that:

Details: "MySQL: Authentication to host 'localhost' for user 'root' using method 'caching_sha2_password' failed with message: Unknown database ''******'" (starred out the database name).

As background, the database is hosted externally and i am connecting to it through MySQL workbench using tcp/ip over SSH. i connect to the database just fine, and i see the database name very clearly in the top left of the workbench.. (also when i do select database()). 

in 'get data' i select mysql (the connector has been installed) and i select localhost and the databasename. for username and password, i enter root and my db password and it then gets me to that error message.

I new to connecting to mysql and so may very well be doing something very basic incorrectly  - like somehow not actually running the database on my local server. i assume that when i've completed the connectio to it in mysql and it's selected that it should then be hosted locally?   Any ideas? i've tried all combinations and am at a loss.

thank you!!