Bola de Nieve (literally Snowball) (11 September 1911 – 2 October 1971), born Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández, was a Cuban singer-pianist and songwriter.
[1] Villa Fernández was born in Guanabacoa, eastern Havana, where he studied at the Conservatorio de José Mateu.
He worked as a chauffeur and played piano for silent films until his friend Rita Montaner took him on as an accompanist in the early 1930s.
After Montaner returned to Cuba, Villa Fernández remained in Mexico and developed an original performance style as a pianist and singer.
He was an elite rather than a popular figure, a sophisticated cabaret stylist known for ironic patter, subtle musical interpretation, with a repertoire that included songs in French, English, Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian.