N'Kele was born in Kisangani in what was then called the Belgian Congo (later Zaire). He grew up in Kinshasa. After completing courses at the Institute of Art in Kinshasa and Lumbumbashi (BFA, Emphasis Painting, 1979), he studied interior design at Notre Dame de la Sagesse in Brussels, Belgium (1980-82) before moving to the U.S. in 1982.

During his first years in America there was no time to pursue art as he struggled to get established and send for his wife and baby daughter. When he was lonely or homesick, as he often was, he pushed those feelings to the back of his mind. He learned English, his fifth language. (Others are French, Swahili, Lingala and Kikongo.) He worked as a dishwasher and busboy and other menial jobs, 16 hours a day most of the time.

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