POP/ROCKPrivate Party: Tina Turner gave a secret...

POP/ROCK

Private Party: Tina Turner gave a secret performance last week for the family of the sultan of Brunei. Turner, 57, sang for an audience of 300 in Brunei at a party to celebrate the 19th birthday of the niece of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the world’s richest man. Guests included celebrities flown in from around the world. Roger Davies, Turner’s manager, refused to say anything more about the event. The oil-rich sultan lets little news of royal activities emerge from his 1,778-room palace. “We have actually signed a form saying we haven’t seen a thing,” said Rory Madden, Turner’s sound engineer. “We haven’t seen anything except decadence beyond belief. There were gold doors, gold everything and 10,000 roses flown in from London for the party.”

TELEVISION

About Those Taxes. . .: Steve Forbes was still pushing his flat-tax plan during the weekend--not as a presidential hopeful, but as the host of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” “As many of you know, I was campaigning for the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States,” the millionaire publishing heir said in his opening monologue. “But you probably don’t want to hear about the campaign right now, because I’m sure a lot of you at home are busy filling out your federal income tax returns that are due Monday,” he said. “What could we have done to make paying your taxes easier?” Forbes asked. “Flat-tax.” When asked earlier this month what he would do with the $5,000 stipend given to “SNL” guest hosts, Forbes joked that he’d use it to help pay his campaign debts. He spent $30 million of his fortune seeking the Republican nomination before dropping out of the race last month.

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The Irvine Scandal: A movie based on the UC Irvine fertility scandal is coming to television. Marilu Henner and Linda Lavin will star in an original production for cable’s Lifetime Television about the alleged embryo-stealing at the UC Irvine clinic. Henner will play a woman affected by the goings-on at the clinic and Lavin will play a clinic employee who became the whistle-blower. Principal photography begins this week in Los Angeles.

LEGAL FILE

Michael Jackson Faces Suit: Michael Jackson’s legal troubles haven’t ended. Five of the singer’s ex-staff members won judicial approval Friday to proceed with a lawsuit against the pop star. Three former bodyguards, a maid and an assistant claim they were forced to quit over their refusal to say what they told a grand jury investigating alleged child molestation by Jackson. Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Zel Canter scheduled a jury trial on the wrongful termination lawsuit to begin May 6. The lawsuit by the former staff members claims Jackson had listening devices installed at his Neverland Ranch to find out what they were saying about the molestation investigation. The singer reached a settlement with his accuser in February 1994.

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Connick Loses Case: Harry Connick Jr. must split the profits from his album “She” with his lyrics writer, a federal judge in New York decided. The singer had sued to force the writer, Ramsey McLean, to accept 30% rather than half the royalties and profits required under federal copyright laws. On Friday, the judge threw out Connick’s lawsuit, ruling that the law treats authors of a joint work “as co-owners of a copyright.”

QUICK TAKES

They say you can take the boy out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take Brooklyn out of the boy. Friday night at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills, Brooklynites Daniel Benzali (“Murder One”) and Harvey Keitel were inducted into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame and the Celebrity Path at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Benzali and Keitel will attend the installation of their plaques on June 9 in Brooklyn. . . . Actor Dennis Hopper, 59, wed aspiring actress Victoria Duffy, who is 30 years his junior, on Friday in Boston. It’s Hopper’s fifth marriage. . . . Actress Halle Berry, 27, filed divorce papers in Los Angeles Friday to officially end her marriage to Atlanta Braves outfielder David Justice. The two were married in 1993 and have been separated since March. . . . The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be the guests on today’s edition of Warner Bros./Reprise Records’ weekly interactive talk show, Cyber-Talk, at 6:30 p.m on America Online (keyword: Warner). The band’s Anthony Kiedis and Dave Navarro will be available to chat with fans. . . . “Melrose Place’s” Andrew Shue made his debut in the fledgling Major League Soccer as midfielder for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. But after what his coach described as “average” play, Shue’s future with the team is uncertain. The coach is expected to announce his final roster cuts today. If Shue makes the team, the former Dartmouth College player will concurrently continue acting on “Melrose Place.”