'N SYNC FUTURE IN LIMBO AS LAWSUITS HOLD UP THE SHOW.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

No telling when the next 'N Sync album will see the light of release.

The teen-dream group and its new label, Jive Records, were slammed with a $150 million breach-of-contract suit last month by impresario Louis Pearlman, his management team and BMG Entertainment, owner of the group's former label, RCA. The group countersued last week, charged Pearlman with fraud and breach of contract - and it remains to be determined which label will get to release the best-selling artists' latest effort.

Super songwriter Diane Warren, who'll have three or four songs on that new album, ``whenever the lawsuits get fixed,'' says of the situation, ``It's too bad . . . that kind of ugly stuff. They should have the album out now, for Christmas.'' But at least fans have 'N Sync's chart-topping ``Music of My Heart'' single, also written by Warren, showcasing vocals by Gloria Estefan, to tide them over. Warren is a believer in the group. ``These guys can really, really sing,'' she says. She also notes, laughing, ``A lot of people don't know it's Gloria'' on the ``Music of My Heart'' single. ``They think it's one of the 'N Sync guys - a couple of them sound more like girls than she does.''

Besides the Estefan-'N Sync collaboration, for the feature ``Music of the Heart, Warren also has ``You're Where I Belong,'' from the soundtrack for ``Stuart Little,'' due out this month, sung by Trisha Yearwood. And she has ``Leaving's Not Leaving'' from the film ``Anywhere but Here,'' performed by LeAnn Rimes. That gives her three Oscar prospects for this year. Considering she's been nominated for, but hasn't won, a Best Song Academy Award for the past three years, perhaps she's due? ``Hey, Susan Lucci finally won, so maybe there's hope for me.''

Meanwhile ...

Whitney Houston has gotten together with heartthrob Enrique Iglesias to cut a duet that'll be featured on his next studio album and her forthcoming greatest-hits disc. It's called ``Could I Have This Kiss Forever,'' and it's by Warren - who also has a single on the way from Whitney, ``I Learned From the Best.'' Warren also lets us know there's a Celine Dion greatest-hits album in the works, and that she contributed a new song that'll be included on it, ``I Want You to Need Me.'' Celine ``sings the hell out of it,'' says the songwriter. And Warren has songs on current or soon-due albums by artists from Reba McEntire to Ricky Martin. How can she be so prolific? ``I'm the Energizer Bunny of songwriting,'' she says.

Out of the dark side

Ally Walker, who left the title role on NBC's ``Profiler'' early this season, says that ``after three years of pain and sorrow,'' not working on the series has filled her with a sense of ``freedom. I know it sounds weird, terrible. I know series stars make a lot of money, and blah, blah, blah. I loved the show, and I was proud of it - but to work the kind of hours we worked, and talk about mutilated bodies and murder all the time? It just got too intense.'' Walker has deliberately moved on to decidedly lighter fare. Besides the big-screen ``Happy, Texas,'' she has a Lifetime movie, and a comedy called ``If You Believe,'' coming up Dec. 6. Walker notes that many ``real-life profilers have emotional disorders, even breakdowns, and I really understand why. It weighs you down, being submerged in darkness and death all the time. When the series stopped being about the human spirit overcoming the darkness, that's when it got very hard for me.'' In ``If You Believe,'' Walker plays ``a woman who is sort of bitter and frustrated and worn down - hello, sound familiar? - at the beginning of the story. She learns to love herself. It's a positive message, and leaves you feeling happy, which is a nice change of pace from, `Watch out. Someone is waiting with a knife in the closet.' ''

Good news

Walter Matthau, who was felled for months with pneumonia, is up and about - and was out looping his dialogue for ``Hanging Up'' the other day. That's the movie he made with Meg Ryan - with Diane Keaton directing - before he became ill. It's scheduled for February release.

Family affair

Rob Lowe was very busy last week doing his thing on his ``The West Wing'' series and keeping a close eye on his sons. He's got the two young'uns doing cameos on the NBC show - and that proud grin he's wearing is a thing of beauty.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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Photo

Photo: The members of 'N Sync, shown here at the recent WB Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas, are embroiled in a fight over the rights to their next album.