Novković was born to a Serb father Vukašin and a Croat mother Danica[2] during World War II in the village of Vladimirci on the German-occupied territory of what only a few years earlier used to be Kingdom of Yugoslavia's Drina Banovina.
Đorđe's first hit came in 1969 with the song "Više se nećeš vratiti" (You Will Not Return) performed by Mišo Kovač and sold in half a million copies, and a later version in 1985 had similar success.
He collaborated with performers such as Mišo Kovač, Neda Ukraden, Zdravko Čolić, Tomislav Ivčić, Tereza Kesovija, Ivica Šerfezi, Gabi Novak, Srebrna krila, Žanamari Lalić and others.
Novković composed music for Sanja Trumbić's famous thank-you schlager "Danke Deutschland"[3] produced in January 1992 by Hrvatska radiotelevizija as a show of gratitude to Germany for their role in international recognition of Croatia's independence.
In 2003, Novković gained a lot of popularity as judge of Story Supernova Music Talents, a reality show for aspiring musicians similar to Popstars aired on Nova TV.