Despite her rough-hewn persona, Thornton's singing ranged from the buoyant groove of "Sassy Mama" to the knife-edged intimacy of "Sweet Little Angel." She was equally adept with the rock tempo of "Partnership Blues" and the protracted cadence of "Hard Times," and her melancholy treatments of "Bad Luck Got My Man" and "I'm All Fed Up" prompt comparisons with Bessie Smith.

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Scant information exists regarding Thornton's relationships, though she is widely assumed to have enjoyed lesbian affairs. During the early years in the South she seems to have had a son whom the state removed from her custody, possibly because of the hard-drinking and erratic lifestyle of a traveling blues singer. She suffered another loss in 1954 when friend and co-performer Johnny Ace accidentally--and fatally--shot himself in her presence prior to their Christmas Eve show.

One constant in her life was younger sister Mattie Thornton Fields who became Thornton's companion and care-giver when her health deteriorated. They shared a boarding-house residence in Los Angeles at the time of Thornton's death on July 25, 1984. Fields had endured her own share of calamities and wrote the lyrics to "Everybody Happy But Me," which Thornton recorded in 1975.

Biographical sources report that Thornton died alone and destitute. Jeannie Cheatham's memoir and Jack Jones' obituary, however, cite second-hand accounts that loved ones were with her when she collapsed from a heart attack, discrepancies that might reflect mourners' wishes to soften the tragedy.

Former bandleader-turned-reverend Johnny Otis presided at her funeral.

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