Lilith leader Sarah McLachlan on stage in 1997

May 4, 1999
Web posted at: 1:39 p.m. EDT (1739 GMT)

By Donna Freydkin
CNN Interactive Contributing Writer

(CNN) -- Last year, Lilith Fair helped fledgling, unsigned New York-based singer-songwriter and pianist Eden White land a record deal. This summer, after completing the festival's third tour, driving force Sarah McLachlan will pull down the tent.

"It was a privilege to play Lilith Fair," says White. "It may be a smart thing to end it now. Lilith Fair came out and made a statement and it was a good thing."

Having helped launch such artists as White, and being celebrated as much for its stellar lineups as for its clean bathrooms and placid crowds, Lilith Fair is set to pack up, after assembling its most impressive ensemble of artists to date.

Lilith Fair has weathered criticism for its ostensible lack of diversity to go about its blissful celebration of female bonding. But festival mastermind Sarah McLachlan has decided to bail after this summer's round, opting for motherhood.

"We're all well into our 30s now," the 31-year-old Canadian singer announced at an April 27 news conference, "and we decided we wanted to have babies. This will be the last year for a good, long while. It could be three years, it could be 10 years, it could be forever."

Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer, whose band will perform a few dates on this year's Lilith Fair tour

Earlier this week, McLachlan announced the lineup of the 40-date North American amphitheater tour. Playing all 40 stops herself, she's to be joined by a rotating lineup that includes root-sy popster Sheryl Crow; veteran rockers The Pretenders; former 'Til Tuesday frontwoman Aimee Mann; hip-hop sovereign Queen Latifah; indie darling Liz Phair; R&B looker Monica; country ingenues Dixie Chicks and Kelly Willis; and popsters Bijou Phillips and Sixpence None the Richer.

"I'd love to get to know or at least meet some of the women, such as Sheryl or Sarah," says Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer, which is signed to play eight dates this year. "I know we won't have time to develop friendships with anyone, but I would love to get to know them."

Again this summer, Lilith Fair, Ozzfest and H.O.R.D.E. fill the vacuum left over by the grandparent of summer festivals, the ill-fated Lollapalooza, on hiatus until 2000. But McLachlan insists that from the outset she'd planned to run Lilith Fair only for three years. And she says she's enough of a control freak to not relinquish command of the tour to anyone else.

Nevertheless, for emerging artists and groups such as Sixpence None the Richer -- which has the adorable hit single "Kiss Me" in heavy radio rotation nationwide -- Lilith is an incredible opportunity to play for huge crowds drawn by the likes of McLachlan, Crow, the Indigo Girls and Luscious Jackson.

"It's very encouraging to be included," says Sixpence's Nash. "Last year, we played one date in Nashville and it was our first experience. But in light of the popularity of 'Kiss Me,' it worked out again this year. And it's amazing to be on such a great bill."

Last year's tour included Queen Latifah

If you work it right and your luck pans out, Lilith has amazing payoff -- as musician Eden White can attest. She landed a record deal on the strength of one performance at a New York's Jones Beach venue.

"I would absolutely do it again if I had the chance," says White. "As a result of Lilith Fair, I got signed to a label. My CD ('This is the Way') came out nationally and internationally. Billy Joel came to one of my shows. And all that is the result of meeting and being seen by people at Lilith."

Last year, White was one of two performers to win a nationwide contest to perform at Lilith Fair. Her demo was chosen from a pool of thousands, and she and 19 other finalists auditioned to play at the kickoff concert. White and the band Antigone Rising came out on top, and ended up performing for an audience estimated at 8,000.

White, who says she knows her place in the pecking order, says she was hesitant to fraternize with top acts such as McLachlan and Tracy Bonham, but says all the performers made her feel instantly welcome. And while she may not be having slumber parties with the A-list, White says being a part of the festival had its value.

"Sarah was nothing less than amazingly gracious to me and really supportive," says White. "I don't want to exaggerate about being buddy-buddy with everyone. But to me it was enough to be exposed to it and be in the company of these people. Lilith Fair made a point of opening up to local artists and giving them opportunities."

Sharing the stage with McLachlan at the end of the show was a revelation for an unsigned singer who was about to give up on making music.

"You see Sarah on stage and feel like a freshman -- and believe me, I know my place. I was standing in the wings during the encore at Jones Beach, and Tracy pulled me out on stage. I held hands with Tracy and Sarah, and I realized that I was standing between two people who had achieved so much success," says White. "It really showed me that anything is attainable when you really love what you do.

"That was the one moment when I knew it was really real."

McLachlan

The 1999 Lilith Fair again dedicates itself to introducing new talent through a national search. Winning female-fronted acoustic acts in each of 16 United States cities are to be booked as openers on the Lilith Fair Village Stage.

And for the first time this year, Lilith Fair is holding an MP3 talent search, with all entrants having their music posted on the Lilith home page in MP3, a format for storing audio files on computer. The winner is to be flown to Chicago to open the show there.

As usual, each show is to include the "village area" with booths operated by retailers and nonprofit organizations including the Breast Cancer Fund; LIFEbeat; Planned Parenthood; and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). And in keeping with the good-music-and-good-works themes of Liliths past, local charities are to receive $1 from each ticket sold. Since 1997, Lilith Fair has donated almost $2 million to national and regional nonprofit organizations.

The festival is scheduled to open its tour July 8 on McLachlan's home turf -- Vancouver, British Columbia -- and is to end August 31 in Edmonton, Alberta.