Now, 15 years later, Royce is having a full-circle moment with his latest album, “Eterno,” which translates to "Eternal" and is a 13-track record of cover songs.

Ethel Merman sang it first, in the 1936 Cole Porter musical “Red, Hot and Blue,” which became the title of the 1990 AIDS awareness album “Red Hot + Blue.” On a starry compilation of pop covers of ...