Bryden was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England, on 11 May 1920 and was the only child of Amos and Elsie Bryden. Bryden's enthusiasm for jazz music started during her teenage years. She became a member of the NationalRhythm Club when she was 17 and became secretary of the local branch in 1941. An ardent jazz fan she established a Nat Gonella fan club in her teens, before taking up the washboard and singing. Her vocal style was influenced by Bessie Smith but she avoided affectation of an American accent. She was a friend of Black Anna Hannant who ran the Jolly Butchers pub in Ber Street, Norwich. In 1942, aged 22, she moved to Cambridge. In 1945, after the war had ended, she moved to back to London, hoping to start a music career. She also worked with Mick Mulligan and George Melly at London jazz venues such as the Cook's Ferry Inn, Walthamstow and became a supporter of visiting American jazz acts when the Musicians Union ban was lifted and befriended, amongst others, Buck Clayton, Louis Armstrong and Bud Freeman, with whom she recorded. In May 1949 Bryden formed her own group called Beryl’s Back-Room Boys and later worked with Mike Daniels. At the same club in 1952 she met the French clarinettist Maxime Saury and sang with his band band at The Club Du Vieux Colombier, District Of Saint Germain Des Pres, Paris. In 1955 she joined the Chris Barber band on washboard, and played on the group's gold disc, "Rock Island Line" with Lonnie Donegan on vocals. This track helped trigger the 'skiffle' craze of the late 1950s. She later graduated to the Monty Sunshinejazz band, where she covered Bessie Smith and long-term favourite "Coney Island Washboard Blues", which demonstrated her washboard technique. She remained active at the end of the British trad jazz boom, and became particularly popular in Northern Europe, playing with the Ted Easton Jazz Band and The Piccadilly Six. On July 13th, 1979 in jazz, she headlined the North Sea Jazz Festival with Rod Mason and His Hot Five. In the 1980s she often sang with the New Orleans Syncopators, a Dutch jazz band, whom she recorded an album with. She remained active into the 1990s, playing with the Metropolitan Jazz Band, Digby Fairweather, Nat Gonella and her own Blue Boys. She made her last recording with Gonella in 1998, shortly before her death.
Bryden was a keen traveller. She was renowned for her flamboyant gowns and sculptured blonde wigs. She died from Lymphoma aged 78 at St Mary's Hospital, London on 14 July 1998.
