Richard Simmons musical collaborator sent late fitness guru ‘something the day he passed that he never heard’

nypost.com:

Richard Simmons was famous for revolutionizing the workout world by “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”And before his death on July 13 — a day after celebrating his 76th birthday — the fitness guru was toning up tunes for a musical about his legendary life with longtime Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard.“He had sent me some lyrics, and I wrote some melodies to them, and that was the beginning of it,” Leonard, 68, told The Post. “And then he passed … I sent him something the day he passed that he never heard.”Before Simmons’ death, Leonard said, “I think there were eight pieces [done] … These things were very personal, and they were very autobiographical and very time-stamped, you know, at certain times in his life and his career.“There was one about him opening his first place, his first exercise place,” he continued. “And so there’s a little storyline in there of him going to somebody else’s exercise place … and then deciding to do it himself, and then actually doing it.

So you have that little triptych built in right there.”While co-writing Madonna classics such as “Live to Tell,” “La Isla Bonita” and “Like a Prayer” — her 1989 chart-topper that is currently featured in the blockbuster “Deadpool & Wolverine” — Leonard composed the music first and then the Queen of Pop added lyrics.

But he worked the other way around with Simmons, whose words didn’t always come in traditional lyric form.“Some were more lyrical than others,” Leonard explained. “When I first started doing it, I looked at them and thought, ‘You know, let me shape these right now.