| Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips | |
| Birth Date: | 1884 |
| Nationality: | Nigerian |
| Occupation: | Organist |
| Known For: | Father of Nigerian church music |
Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips (1884 – 10 July 1969) was a Nigerian organist, conductor, composer and teacher who has been described as the "father of Nigerian church music"[1]
Thomas Ekundayo Phillips was born in 1884.His father was Bishop Charles Phillips of Ondo.He attended the CMS Grammar School, Lagos, then went to the Government Training School for Dispensers, where he qualified as a Chemist.He became an optician by profession.Phillips was encouraged to study music by the Archdeacon Nathaniel, his uncle.His uncle Johnson Phillips, an Anglican priest, gave him his first organ lessons.Solomon Moses Daniels, a well-known organist at Saint Paul's Church, Aroloya, gave him lessons in organ playing.He was Assistant Organist at Saint Paul's Church, Lagos until 1914.
Phillips attended Trinity College of Music in London from 1911 to 1914, where he studied organ, piano and violin.He was given the Fellowship of Trinity College of Music, London (FTCML) in organ playing,Phillips was the second Nigerian to obtain a baccalaureate degree in music.When he returned to Nigeria in 1914 Bishop Herbert Tugwell invited Phillips to become organist and Master of the Music at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos.He would retain this position for 48 years.His elder brother became bishop of the cathedral, the second African bishop there after Archbishop Leslie Vining.
Phillips trained well-known students such as Fela Sowande, Ayo Bankole, Lazarus Ekwueme, Christopher Oyesiku and his son Charles Oluwole Obayomi Phillips, who succeeded him at the Cathedral Church of Christ.Fela Sowande always remembered the training that Phillips provided, which was a great help in his own career.