Balašević started his career in the 1977 as a member of the pop rock band Žetva, before leaving to form the pop rock band Rani Mraz. After releasing two albums, Rani Mraz disbanded, and Balašević started a successful solo career, spanning up to the present. While his initial works were mostly pop rock-oriented, in his later career he often used elements of rock, chanson and folk music, while his lyrics often dealt with romantic, humorous or political- and social-related themes.
In 1978, he left Žetva and, together with Verica Todorović, formed the band Rani Mraz (Early Frost). The band had its début at the 1978 music festival in Opatija with the song "Moja prva ljubav" ("My First Love"). Rani Mraz had unsteady lineup, but managed to gain huge popularity with Balašević's pop rock-oriented songs released on 7" singles. During 1978, former Suncokret members Biljana Krstić and Bora Đorđević joined the band (forming the most famous Rani Mraz lineup), and together they recorded "Računajte na nas" ("Count on Us"), written by Balašević,[2] a song which celebrated the youth's adoption of the communist revolution. The song became popular with both the communist authorities and the people, becoming an anthem of the Yugoslav youth. After just few months of cooperation, Verica Todorović and Bora Đorđević left the band (Đorđević forming his famous hard rock band Riblja Čorba), so Biljana Krstić and Balašević recorded Rani Mraz's first album Mojoj mami umesto maturske slike u izlogu (To my Mom instead of Prom Photo in the Shop-Window) with the help of studio musicians.
At the 1979 Split Festival, Balašević won the first prize with the single "Panonski mornar" ("Pannonian Sailor"). A few months later, Rani Mraz sold out Belgrade's Dom Sindikata Hall eight times in a row. In 1980, Balašević served in the Yugoslav People's Army in Zagreb and Požarevac, where he had a role in the TV show Vojnici (Soldiers), but also found time to write song "Zbog tebe" ("Because of You") for Zdravko Čolić and lyrics for several songs recorded on Srebrna Krila album Ja sam samo jedan od mnogih s gitarom (I'm only One of Many with a Guitar).
By the end of 1980, Balašević and Krstić released their second and final album under the name Rani Mraz, with a symbolic title Odlazi cirkus (The Circus Is Leaving). The album reaffirmed Balašević's status and delivered several hit songs, one of them being "Priča o Vasi Ladačkom" ("Story of Vasa Ladački") which went on to become one of Balašević's signature songs. However, Rani Mraz officially dissolved shortly afterwards.
Balašević's concerts are known to last for more than four hours at a time. Apart from performing his songs, he has a custom of making long pauses between songs and commenting on current events. Therefore his concerts are more of a cabaret than rock concerts in the common sense of the word.
His traditional New Year's concerts in Sava Center hall in Belgrade are traditionally sold out. He sold out Sava Center for the first time in the 1982/1983 season, started his regular New Year's concerts in 1986, and in the 1990s and 2000s he was performing up to 11 evenings in a row.
Balašević currently lives in Novi Sad, in the same house where he grew up, with his wife Olivera (born Savić in Zrenjanin), who was a ballerina and a member of gymnastics national team, and their three children: daughters Jovana (an actress, born in 1980) and Jelena (a consultant in the Government of Vojvodina, born in 1984), and son Aleksa (born in 1994).