"Goddess in the Doorway" is the fourth solo album by Mick Jagger, released in 2001. This album marked his first release with Virgin Records, the label he had been contracted to as a member of the Rolling Stones since 1991. Following his 1993 album Wandering Spirit and the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge (1994) and Bridges to Babylon (1997), Jagger began working on demo material for this album in 2000, eventually heading to the studio in the spring of 2001.
Jagger worked primarily with producers Marti Frederiksen and Matt Clifford, but also enlisted the talents of Lenny Kravitz and Wyclef Jean to help shape the album's sound. The songs were largely composed by Jagger himself, though he collaborated with artists like Kravitz and Rob Thomas (lead vocalist of Matchbox Twenty). The recording process of several tracks was featured in the documentary Being Mick. The album's cover photo was created by renowned German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
During the recording sessions, Jagger's musician friends, including Bono, Pete Townshend, Rob Thomas, Kravitz, Jean, and Joe Perry, all contributed to the album. Townshend was instrumental in encouraging Jagger to record the demos as a solo project after hearing them and suggesting they didn't sound like typical Rolling Stones material.
In the summer of 2001, Jagger met with Missy Elliott and previewed his demo material to her, with the intention of collaborating on a song called "Hide Away." However, due to scheduling conflicts, the collaboration never came to fruition. Similarly, Jagger had planned to work with producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, but that collaboration also fell through.
By the end of the summer, Goddess in the Doorway was completed, and the Kravitz-produced track "God Gave Me Everything" was chosen as the lead single. Despite its release in October 2001, the song did not achieve significant commercial success.
