Weight loss guru Richard Simmons taught the world how to sweat, and now he wants to teach it how to sing. Jumping into the music business with his first single, "Piece of My Heart," Simmons couldn't hold back the tears when discussing his tribute to America’s soldiers.
“I have an exercise studio, and I have about 20 women in my class who have husbands deployed to Afghanistan. So I get up very early in the morning -- at 3 a.m. -- and answer my emails, and this one lady wrote and said that she couldn't stop eating because her husband was going for the fourth time. It just got to me, and I sat at my butcher block with my 16-year old Dalmatian and wrote a song,” Richard tells The Huffington Post.
This isn’t the first time Richard has jumped into the recording booth. In 1983, he recorded an exercise song called "Reach." But this new single and album, he says, is more important.
Richard added that he is impacted by the hardships facing people who are trying to lose weight.
“The number-one reason people put on weight is low self-worth. When your husband isn’t making love to you and can't find a job, when your children don't treat you with respect, when you get called names when you're walking down the street,” he says. “I know this is part of our society, but it really brings a tear to my eye.
Proceeds from "Piece of My Heart" will go to a fund benefiting U.S. Armed Forces.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that proceeds from "Piece of My Heart" would benefit Project HOPE, Richard's new workout program.
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