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She got an agent and began auditioning for shows, driving to New York and back in the same day so she wouldn't miss work. For a long time, there were no callbacks.

"I was like, 'I'm missing something,' " she says. "I was so used to auditioning and getting roles."

Then she hit a theatrical jackpot. She landed the intense lead role of an angry black maid in 1963 Louisiana in "Caroline, or Change," Kushner's dark operetta about race and class, at Washington's Studio Theatre.

Nixon was petrified. She had plenty of vocal training, including two years at N.C. School of the Arts. But she had never performed a dramatic role of such intensity.

Determined not to chicken out, Nixon read books by the legendary German actress Uta Hagen and applied Hagen's techniques to Caroline. It worked.

The Washington Post praised Nixon's "wonderful, brooding" performance. The 51/2-week run got extended four weeks. The theater made more money during the run than it had ever made before, and Nixon and the show earned Helen Hayes Awards -- Washington's version of the Tony. And Nixon landed another role in a St. Louis production of "Ain't Misbehavin'."

"Caroline" also sent Nixon into a songwriting flurry. She was full of ideas, scribbling lyrics at a furious pace in her dressing room each day.

" 'Caroline' just opened up the artist in me again," Nixon says. "I had written things before, but just never as prolifically. ... It seemed like every day I was waking up with something different."

Nixon wanted to release a CD of her songs, but she couldn't afford it. Until Kevin DiLallo came along.

A serious fan

DiLallo, a corporate attorney, first saw Nixon perform in the early 1980s at a Washington nightclub called Mr. Henry's and became an instant fan. When he heard that Nixon had been cast in "Caroline, or Change," he bought tickets immediately and returned several times.

"The quality of her performance hasn't been diminished one iota by age," DiLallo says.

Months later, Nixon met DiLallo at a fundraiser and told him that she had been writing songs. He offered to pay for her to record a CD.

"She was very skeptical," DiLallo says. "She kept saying, 'This isn't a hobby.' ... I think she thought, 'What the heck does this little lawyer know about the music business?' "

But DiLallo was determined. A pianist himself, DiLallo had always dreamed of running a record company. He knew how to start a corporation and how to negotiate contracts. And having just earned a windfall in a recent court case, he opened his wallet wide, giving Nixon free rein artistically, hiring an expensive stylist and a top-notch photographer, and launching a record company, Double Dawg.

The result is "Keepin' on Track," a lushly produced collection that came out in November. It spans a range of emotions, highlighted by Nixon's warm and natural vocals and laced with harmonies and horns. The classy packaging rivals major label designs. The live recording set to arrive in February came from a sold-out CD release concert at Washington's 1,200-seat Lincoln Theatre.

DiLallo estimates that he has spent several hundred thousand dollars. Nixon is stunned by his generosity.

"I have so many people approach me and go, 'Oh, you have such a pretty voice and blah, blah, blah.' " Nixon says. "But he really did put his money where his mouth was."

Now that the CD is out, DiLallo is juggling his law practice with phone calls and e-mails to radio stations, distributors and the media. He has signed an overseas distribution deal with Europe's Believe Digital, and he is working on getting it into stores here. For now, it is available through Nixon's Web site, www.julianixon.com.

Her greatest achievement

Nixon, meanwhile, is headlining in nightclubs again, and she is planning to tour Europe next year. But even as she looks back at all the grand developments in her life, Nixon still speaks most proudly of the accomplishment that doesn't come with a marquee: raising her son.

Nicholas Nixon, now 21, installs car stereos at Best Buy in Cary. He dreams of becoming a music producer, and he has a solid start with one song on his mother's CD, the rap-laced "Sirens." He describes his mother as his best friend.

"He's a really, really smart kid and really just a nice person," Nixon says. "I have not had one bit of trouble with my son. Not one. He's a cool kid."

Nixon knows that her second shot at fame might be as fleeting as the first. But in the arena where it matters most, she has already made her mark.

"Anybody can have a child," she says. "But you really do need to give them the time."

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